


Make us or break us

by Georgiahemp6464



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Potter, Bad dates, Big family, Buying a HOUSE, Children, Drinking, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Family talk, First Time, Fluff, Giving Birth, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Malfoy Manor, Mood Swings, Mpreg, Panic Attacks, Past Suicidal Thoughts, Pregnancy, Pregnant Draco, Rebuilding a house, Romance, Switching, The Past, past depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:35:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 91,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24146758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Georgiahemp6464/pseuds/Georgiahemp6464
Summary: When Harry tries to take his and Draco’s relationship to the next level after 3 years, it doesn’t go the way he wants. Moving out can be hard and brings up memories of the past. Will draco cope with this house or has Harry made a mistake. Also why has Draco been so off lately? Only time will tell.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley/Luna Lovegood background, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Hannah Abbott background
Comments: 14
Kudos: 139





	1. Chapter one - present

This house is gonna be it for us. It’s either going to make us or break us, and as we walk through the wonky front door to see what lies beyond, I think to myself, this may break us after all. The past couple of weeks have been quite tense. Draco’s been in a pissy mood and I’ve had to work overtime, which is probably why he’s in a pissy mood but I can't help it, it's my job. I told him when we got into this relationship, 3 years ago, that I took my job very seriously and it was very demanding being an auror. I thought he understood that and it has worked well up until last month. He started complaining that i was never home for tea and that he hardly saw me, with him leaving early to get to his potions store and me getting home late. He asked me how I expected to raise a family like this, which thus caused one of our biggest fights in a while. He doesn’t understand what it means to me to be an auror and catch the bad guys and keep people safe. I need it and he doesn’t understand that. He avoided me for 2 weeks, and because we don’t live together that made it possible for him to avoid me. That’s when I started thinking about a home and living together. If I’d known I’d end up buying this place then I would have hit myself across the head and told myself it was a bad idea.  
It was not my intention to end up here (and have Draco hate me more than he already does), when I went in search of somewhere for me and Draco to finally live together. You see, I definitely was not moving into the manor. Way too many bad memories there. Draco said grimmauld place was too dark and dank for him. That coming from someone who currently lives where Voldemort had once taken up residents. I guessed Draco still only lives there though for his mother but it’s time for him to start his own life. He hates spending time at grimmauld for some reason. I mean yeah it's still a bit unlivable in some rooms but for the most part it was okay. Me and Ron and Hermione had spent a long time doing it up before we all started jobs, or in Hermione's case went back to school. Even some of the other Weasleys had helped, including George and Charlie. Neville had helped with the garden and Luna had helped with… Well I don’t know what Luna had done really except make my house smell like burnt grass when she went round with her smudge stick, but she was good company for a couple of weeks. I'll miss that place when and if we actually move in here. I have some good memories there, some great end of the war parties were thrown there, and some amazing small get-togethers, I’ll even remember the times after the funerals where we sat hugging on sofas and reliving good memories of the dead. Grimmauld is were i finally broke it off with Ginny after realising i was gay. She understood but it took her a while to really move on and be a best mate again. It’s where me and Draco shared a lot of firsts too. Like our first kiss, after he walked me home a couple of dates into our relationship, and our first argument (inevitable) about which broom was better to fly. It was also home to our first time having sex, a little awkward and painful but perfect none the less. It really will be greatly missed but it's all for a good reason. I mean what better reason than to start our own family and have new memories.  
So I’ve been looking everywhere for a perfect place and asked friends to keep an eye out, for either muggle or wizard homes. Either would be fine as long as the closest neighbours couldn’t hear our shouting and screaming from fights...and other things. So when Hermione found me at my desk in the ministry last week and told me she had found the most paradisal place for us, I stupidly believed her. (I'll have to look up the word paradisal as I’m pretty sure it's not what i thought it meant when Hermione said it, because I pictured paradise actually and that’s so not what i got). I quickly spoke to the estate agent and put the deposit down. Yes i looked at it first, but no not in person. I looked at a couple of photographs that made the place look adorable and ideal for raising a family in. I could just picture me and Draco in that picture with a couple of blonde haired children and Draco with a big belly carrying another one. Me and Draco have spoken quite a bit about having children lately, so i think it’s gonna be sooner rather than later. We both have always wanted children and with recent potion inventions it’s become a reality that we can have our own. Draco was actually persuaded rather quickly to be the one to carry the children.  
Now, however, as we both stand there in a total state of shock, I’m distantly playing the screaming match I’m going to have with Hermione in my head. She is so dead. I slowly look over at Draco to try and gauge his reaction. I know what he’s seeing because I’m seeing it for the first time and it does not look good. While I’m planning hermiones murder, Draco is definelty planning mine, and this time I’m not sure I don’t blame him. This is like a completely different house to what I saw in the pictures and what I was imagining. The first thing was the door which is hanging loosely off the hinges and has cracks all through just the back of it which was quite convenient for the photos they showed me at the estate agency. We’re probably going to need a new door. The next thing was the floors, well the lack of floor would be more accurate. Whoever had lived here before had decided to take up all the wood flooring with them and leave us to deal with the rest. Next was the fact that where the rest of the doors should have been were just empty passages. Note to self - find out how much doors for a whole house costs (probably not cheap). As I stood there and thought that was all for now, I looked around to Draco but stopped half way and looked at the stairs. What was there was mostly okay actually but every couple of steps one was missing and just had a hole instead. The steps that were left I wouldn’t trust not to fall right through, they were definitely not safe. This was a nightmare and this was only the hall!  
I was so fixated on looking around and dreading what was to come, that I didn't notice Draco had turned around and gone. That was until I heard the door slam and another big crack form. Great! What the hell am I going to do now? I’m gonna kill Hermione!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter happens a couple of weeks before the first chapter.  
> Hope you like it.

“How the hell is this guy doing it?” Ron thought out loud.  
“Or girl!” Hermione said coming in with her chin held high, about to spout about equality to us.  
“Actually it's guy Hermione”, I intervened quickly to stop the rant, “we know who it is but not how he’s doing it. So we can't bring him in as we have nothing on him.”  
“So how do you know it's him?” She asked, confused.  
“Harry has one of his gut feelings.” Said Ron with a queer look to Hermione that said ‘just go along with it’. They always give each other looks and can instantly just tell what the other is thinking. Mind you, I suppose me and Draco do that too, but it’s annoying when the look is aimed at me.  
“Hey! You’ve always said you believe my gut instincts.” I shouted across desks.  
“I do mate! Honestly!” He said while winking at Hermione. She giggled and he smirked at her. They were like this all the time and I was happy for them, they really are perfect for each other.  
“Anyway, did you come here for a specific reason, Hermione or just to tell us off about wrongly accused sexism.” I shot her an annoyed look. She just turned and smiled at me and then said,  
“Yes actually, I’ve found you the most paradisal house Harry. I've been and looked at it myself and I could see it! You, Draco, and a few children running around. It’s absolutely perfect Harry and you have to go immediately and buy it.” Hermione seemed very excited about this, she was practically vibrating. What she had said made me actually look up and smile at her contrary to my previous mood.  
“Really?! That’s great Hermione! Thank you so much.” I said as I got up and lifted her into a swinging hug. This was amazing news, I’m going to go to the estate agency straight after work and put a deposit down. Speaking of which…”hey what time is it?” I said as I looked at the clock. “Great, it's after 5, I can go now.” Answering my own question. I barely got a bye out of my mouth before I had picked my things up my things and shot out the door. I definitely owed Hermione one for this.  
“Hey mate, don’t forget, leaky cauldron 7pm Saturday. You promised both you and Draco would be there.” Ron shouted after me, hanging out the door.  
“Yes, yes. I've not forgotten, we’ll be there. Bye!” I shouted back while smiling like a loon. Ron had said they had something to announce and that they wanted everyone there for it. I’ve been wondering what big news could prompt a get together. They were either engaged, pregnant, or moving. Or possibly all three but I doubt it. In fact I doubt its pregnancy either as it's being held in a pub. I bet they got engaged, which makes me a little jealous but me and Draco had spoken about it a few months ago and just weren’t ready for that yet. But maybe with the house it will be approaching. Anyway I'll be happy for Ron and Hermione whatever their news is, they seem extra snuggly lately whatever it is. If it makes them happy then I’m happy.  
I finally made it to the estate agent and Hermione had already rang and told them I was on my way to put a deposit down. I was so excited and confident in Hermione that I nearly didn’t even look at pictures. But when she pulled them out of the wallet I was nearly bouncing with excitement and happiness. I could really see us living here, all of us as a family.  
The tree in front of the house was flawless, and ideal for hanging a swing. I could picture a basketball hoop and little bicycles. And the backyard looked big enough to teach the kids how to fly. There were no pictures of the inside but Hermione said she had been and seen it in person and that was good enough for me. The deposit was a bit less than what I was expecting for a house so big. It had 5 bedrooms including a converted attic, 3 bathrooms, a pantry and 3 stables. Although Draco had grown up pureblood, I know for a fact that he rode horses as well as brooms. Maybe I’d surprise him with one? That would be a nice surprise right? There was also a pretty big greenhouse and a porch covering the whole front of the house. The porch did look like it needed some work doing but with a bit of magic and a trip to B&Q it would be easily done.  
Once everything was signed and money was handed over, I apparated to Malfoy Manor where I told Draco I would be after work. I practically skipped to the front door and just as I was about to knock an elf let me in(I think this one was Poppey, or possibly Beeley, I was still learning even after 3 years).  
“Master Draco be in his living room sir. Eating without Potter agains, he said sir.” The quivering elf said.  
“Thank you, don’t tell him I’m here, I'll just go up.” I told the elf with a smile.  
I opened the door as quietly as I could and peered inside to see what kind of mood Draco was in. What I saw froze me and made my heart break. Draco was sitting at the table (the one he’d made the elf’s move in here just so he and I could eat in private) with his head in his hand clearly sobbing his heart out, his dinner and mine just sat there going cold. I must have made a noise then because Draco looked up and over to where I stood. Tears ran down his face, as well as snot, and his eyes were red rimmed. It looked like he had been crying for a while. When he saw me he turned away and wiped his face and then tried to pretend nothing had happened.  
“H-Harry, you’re here. Been a while since you made it to-“ before he could finish i had rushed over and enveloped him a skin tight hug.  
“Don’t pretend, please. I’m so sorry Draco. I know I always miss dinner, but that’s changing from now. I will try my hardest to be home on time from now on, okay?” I asked him and looked in his eyes to make sure he knew I was telling the truth. Draco stared at me and then more tears started rolling down his cheek like he couldn’t stop them.  
“Dammit!” He swore while wiping his face again. “I don’t know why I’m crying, I don’t expect you to be here anymore. So why the hell am i crying! I just thought that today maybe you’d come straight from work because I called your office to tell you what i was making for tea and what time it’d be on the table, but Ron said you’d already left. So i thought maybe you’d come straight here.” Draco sneered, although it was more of a sad sneer. I hugged him again and got down on my knees in front of him.  
“Well i just had to do something and then i came straight here. I practically ran here actually.” I tried to comfort.  
“Then where the hell have you been!” Draco shouted while jumping to his feet and moving away. He wiped his face and ran a hand through his long hair. It was past his shoulders now and I just loved it. I wanted to put my hands though it right now, through that silky- “Are you cheating on my Harry?! Because if you are, just tell me!” He screamed at me from across the room. Okay that one surprised me, maybe we really are falling apart if he would suspect me of that. “Don’t just stand there like a moron. I know you cheated on Ginny, so what would make me any different.” He practically whispered this last comment and turned away to put his face in his hands once more. I strode across to him and put my hands around him from behind and kissed his ear while whispering,  
“Because I love you, Draco. I would never do that to you, ever.” I said that ‘ever’ with as much force as i would while still being kind, he needed to know that. “It was different with Ginny, it was a guy i cheated on her with to see if i was actually gay. And you know what?” I turned him round to face me and removed his hand, with some struggle, from his face. “I’m glad i did. Otherwise I would have stayed with her and would never have been sure and then never have gotten with the most gorgeous, beautiful, cunning” I smirked at him while saying cunning and it worked because it got a little smile out of him, “man of my dreams.” I kissed him then, long and sweet unlike most of our kisses. It was nice and just what was called for. “Now, if you don’t get your pretty arse over to that seat and listen to where I’ve been, then you’ll never find out and it will slowly kill you to never hear the best thing to ever happen.” Okay I was being a bit dramatic but it worked because Draco looked at me once with a raised eyebrow as if to say ‘the best thing?’ So I gave a small nod and he turned on his heels and went to sit down.  
When we were both sitting I handed Draco a tissue and stroked his cheek. I never liked to see him upset and it hardly ever happened and especially not this bad.  
“So tell me the best thing to ever happen.” He said to me while giving me shit eating grin. He didn’t believe me and wouldn’t understand until I had finished. So I explained everything, how Hermione had come to the office and how I’d run through the ministry to get to the estate agency as quick as possible, how I’d looked at the pictures and just instantly saw our family there. Then I told him I’d signed the papers and handed the money over and that it was all done and dusted.  
“It will be all ours in just 2 weeks!” I declared while smiling at Draco who hadn’t said a word or even blinked since I started. He looked kind of pale actually and was breathing kind of heavily, “hey, you oka-“  
“YOU DID WHAT!” He exploded. “How dare you buy a house for US without asking me first!! And how dare you buy anything without going in person to look at it!! And how dare you buy it without reading the contract!! HOW DARE YOU!” He screamed at me. He had gotten to his feet and was leaning over the table, it made me feel like I was in 4th year with McGonagall shouting at me.  
“I thought you’d want this? A place of our own to raise a family and be together?” I said timidly, trying not to provoke more shouting.  
“That's exactly it, Harry! Together! This was a decision we both should have made, not you and your Gryffindor impulse!” He shouted some more. Great this was just great. This was supposed to be a brilliant surprise and once again he’s turned it into a fighting match.  
“I was trying to do something nice, draco! You’ve been in such a shitting mood lately and it's bringing me down and causing more fights, like this one. I just thought that you’d want to live together as that’s something that you constantly complain about. It’s fine, i'll give it back and get my money back and we will carry on as usual, in between!” I shouted and apparated out, the food totally forgotten.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter carries on from chapter 2. Ive put it up early because I’m flying through these chapters and thought it would be a nice surprise. I promise the chapter get longer by the way. Hope you like it. X

Chapter 3 -past  
Great! The bloody estate agency was shut now. What was that woman's name again? Did she give me her number? No, I don’t think she did. Shit! I don’t understand why he’s so mad with me. I was so excited for this. I’d thought he’d like it. Maybe he doesn’t want more for us, maybe this is as far as he wants to go. Maybe he doesn’t even love me anymore. I have to get out of here, but where to go. Ha Rons of course.  
Hermione opens the door and gives me a strange look as if to say ‘what the hell are you doing here looking so gloomy when you should be celebrating with Draco’. I guess me and Hermione could read each other too.  
“Harry? What’s the matter? Is Draco with you?” She asked while looking around me and not finding anyone.  
“I’m sorry to interrupt Hermione, can i come in?”  
“Of course, you don’t even have to ask Harry, don’t be silly.” She smiled at him while rubbing his shoulder as he walked past her into Ron and Hermione’s house that they’d bought 2 years ago.  
“Thanks Hermione.” I crashed down onto their red comfy sofa, which always reminded me of the Gryffindor common room. “I think me and Draco are going to break up soon.” I blurted out, not being about to hold it in any longer.  
“Now you are being silly Harry! Draco loves you and you love him and you just bought…. oh, is this about the house?” Her smile faded and she came to sit next to me on the sofa.  
“Yeah. He screamed at me, Hermione. He was so angry, like we were back in Hogwarts. He just never wants to take the next step with us and I don’t think I can carry on like this. We never see each other and it's so shit!” Great now I’m tearing up thinking of losing Draco. I wipe my eyes and look at her. “Maybe this whole house thing was a mistake.”  
“Go home Harry and get some rest. This will work out eventually, you two are not breaking up! I will personally make it my mission to keep you together if it kills me!” She said determinedly. Which made me give her a wet little laugh.  
“Thanks Hermione. Yeah okay, i think i just need some sleep, it's been a long day.” I get up and give my friend a hug.  
“I love you Harry, now stop worrying about you two and go get some sleep!” She demanded.  
“Love you to. Tell Ron I said hi. Okay bye ‘mione.” And so I apparated back to grimmauld.  
This house just seemed empty and hollow now after imagining a life with Draco and our family. I didn’t even make it to the couch before i started crying again, I really don’t know what I’d do if this was it for us. I love that man so goddamn much! Maybe I have been working too much and spending too much time with friends rather than see him. But then again, he goes to see his friends when we could be spending time together, plus I’m allowed friends! He can't stop me from seeing then. But he hasn’t asked me to stop seeing them either. This is all my fault isn’t it? I need to give that house back and then go to Draco’s and tell him how sorry I am and how wrong I was to buy this house without asking him first. I was so wrapped up crying and arguing in my head that I didn’t realise how tired i was, and lying on the couch didn’t help that either. I was soon asleep in the living room, having not eaten since lunch and not feeling hungry in the slightest. I didn't even know what time it was but I guessed it must have been about 8pm.  
I couldn’t have been asleep long when I felt a warm body curl up next to me and a blanket placed on top of me. I squinted my eyes open as much as I could with how tired I was. And there he was, my Draco. This must be a dream.   
“Draco?” I whispered and yawned  
“Shhh, go back to sleep. I’m sorry I woke you.” Draco whispered back. So maybe it’s not a dream then. I need to explain about the house and tell him I’m sorry. I sit up a tiny bit so I can see his face properly.  
“The estate agency was shut, I’ll go in the-“ he cut me off with a delicate kiss and pushes me back down.  
“Shhh. It’s okay, we’ll talk in the morning but I don’t want you to give it back. It's our house.” He said while giving me a little smile and another kiss, just as delicate as the last. So I closed my eyes, not being able to keep them open much longer anyway.  
“I love you.” I whispered while pulling him closer.  
“Merlin Harry, I love you so much.” He whispered back while snuggling in. Maybe this would work out after all. Maybe he really did love me. And maybe he really did want a house, and kids, and to be a family. I smiled to myself and drifted back off to sleep more comfortably on the couch, squished with Draco, than spread out on my own. The next morning was made up of breakfast in bed (because we’d somehow ended up in my bed last night), lots of apologises from both of us, great make up sex, and some planning for our future together.  
That Saturday it was finally time to hear Ron and Hermione’s news. I was very excited to find out what it was, George had gone around us all placing bets between a baby, an engagement, and a new house. I put my money on engagement but Draco said baby, which surprised me. Draco had agreed to come but said he’d meet me there. So after I had had a shower and gotten ready into a casual shirt and a clean pair or black jeans, I went over to the fireplace and shouted the leaky cauldron. With a flash of green I was in the pub. I didn’t have to look long before I could see a flash of red heads. I went over to the table and was greeted by everyone. Luna and Ginny were there, Neville and Hannah, George and Angelina, Dean, and Ron. Luna and Ginny had gotten together about 6 months ago adn when asked about it Ginny ha just said “If you can be gay, why can’t I?” And walked off, to which Luna apologised and went after her.   
“Hey everyone! Ron? Where’s Hermione?” I ask while checking the bar but can only see Seamus. Seamus and Dean were always together lately and me and Draco had our suspicions that they were hooking up secretly. Bout time anyway.   
“She’s just in the toilet, she’ll be back any minute.” He looked very nervous and was sweating a bit. Was he ill or was this because of what he had to tell us? Maybe it was a baby after all, dammit Draco’s going to win the bet and rub it in my face.  
“Where’s your man Harry?” Says George. Good question, where was Draco? He said he was coming. I sit down next to Luna across from George and begin chatting.  
“No clue. Said he’d be here. How’s baby Fred? Who’ve you left him with this time?” I ask both George and Angelina.  
“He’s with Molly tonight, I’m afraid we won't be staying late though. Need to get back to my baby.” Angelia declared proudly. We carried on chatting for a bit and then Hermione comes out of the bathroom looking slightly green. This could also indicate she’s pregnant or it could mean they are both sick.  
“Are you okay Hermione?” Ginny asks, causing everyone to stop their conversations and look up, which in turn makes Hermione blush.  
“Yes thank you, I’m fine. Have you all got drinks?” At that moment Seamus sits back down with three pints and passes one to Harry and one to Dean. We both say our thanks and Dean gives him a little smirk and a wink. Definitely something going on there.  
“Now we have.” Seamus says while not taking his eyes off Dean. Hermione sits down at the end of the table next to Ron and turns to me. Everyone has again taken up their conversations but I look back at Hermione.  
“Where’s Draco?” She whispers, while looking around to the bar just as I had for her.  
“I don’t know. He said he’d met me here-“ the floo roars to life just then and out steps Draco looking classy as always. “There he is.” I relax slightly at seeing him and move up a bit for Draco to slide in next to me. “Hey!” I enthusiastically say a bit too loudly. He sees us and heads over looking a bit embarrassed at my outburst.   
“Hey.” He smiles and kisses me quickly on the lips. He then proceeds to say hello to everyone else and the group get chatting again. I go up to the bar to get Draco a drink, I’m still kind of apologising for everything but he's long forgiven me. After another few minutes Ron clears his throat and gets everyone’s attention.  
“Well, now everyone’s here,” he sends a look to Draco that causes everyone to laugh, “we have some news.” He looks over to Hermione and smiles. She takes his hands then takes a deep breath and looks at all of us.  
“I’m pregnant! We’re having a baby!”   
The whole table exploded in cheers and excitement. Congratulations is being shouted from everyone and both Ron and Hermione look over the moon. Ginnys shouting about being an auntie and Luna’s saying something about wrackspurts and the increase of them around pregnant people. George is saying good luck and Dean and Seamus are still staring at each other. Draco looks at me as if to say ‘I told you so’, I just roll my eyes and turn to Hermione.  
“Congrats guys! I’m so happy for you.” I say over the loudness of the table. She places her hand over mine and smiles with tears in her eyes.  
“Thank you Harry. It wasn’t planned but I guess that’s just how our life is.” That made me chuckle and agree with her. Ron speaks up then.   
“I do have something else to say, well to ask.” He stands up and gets down on one knee in front of Hermione. He pulls a ring box from his pocket and opens it for her to see. “Hermione Jean Granger, I love you so much and I will love this child just as much. I know how much friends and family mean to you so i wanted to do this with all our friends around and when you had this plan of telling everyone together i just knew i needed to do this at the same time. So ‘mione will you marry me?” She’s crying now and everyone is silent waiting for her answer  
“Of course! Yes!” She jumps on him with a hug and kisses him passionately. Once more we erupt in cheers. I look over to Draco again and it looks like he's nearly in tears himself, happy ones of course. He looks at me and smiles while taking my hand and squeezing. Is this a sign he’s ready for more? I don’t want to push it though as he’s only just got used to the whole house thing. Also I guess we both won the bet then but he’ll probably try and tell me he won because technically they didn’t tell us about being engaged or some shit like that. He’s a slytherin through and through. But Merlin help me if I didn’t love that about him.  
“Right let's get pissed!” Shouts George then and we cheer and hold our drinks up.  
“To Ron and Hermione! May you always be happy and healthy!” Draco speaks up then, surprising me. I smile at him and we all clink glasses while shouting.  
“To Ron and Hermione!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of short, so I’m going to post chapter 5 as well this week. Which is also short sorry.   
> This chapter carries on from chapter 1, back in the present. X

I walked back out the door and looked around for Draco, hoping he’d not apparated off. Thankfully I found him sat on the grass under the tree that I had found so adorable in the pictures. I walked over to him slowly to give him a chance to notice me, and sat down next to him.  
“Draco, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know-“ I started but was quickly cut off.  
“Of course you didn’t know! Because you and your Gryffindor brain never think! I should have known something like this would happen.” He sounded so broken in that last sentence that I just had to take his hand to try and comfort him in any way I could. “I thought you said Hermione had looked at this place?” He asked. Ahh yes Hermione, well now Draco will blame her too, ha! Serves her right. Does she think this is a prank or something. Is this because of the so-called pregnancy brain George was telling us about, or wrackspurts according to Luna. Maybe they really did affect her brain and now she’s gone crazy and thinks words mean the opposite to what they do. But she’s so clever, she must have a reason for this.   
“She did. I don’t know what made her think we’d like it.” I said accusingly, I was not getting the blame for this.  
“I know why.” He said while getting up and patting down his pants. “It’s because she hates me.” He declared and walked off around the back of the house. I was gobsmacked, I couldn’t move. Why in the world would Draco think Hermione hated him. She doesn’t hate him. In fact she very much enjoys his company because he’s about the only one capable of keeping up with her brain. I get up and go after him.  
“Draco wait up!” I shouted to him while running to catch him. “What the hell do you mean Hermione hates you?!” I demanded. He couldn’t just say things like that about my friends and get away with it. Even if my so-called friend did put us in this position in the first place.  
“After everything that I did to her in school, after everything I said to her!” He turned his face away, “After everything my aunt Bellatrix did to her. She has a right to hate me and want me to have an awful life. I don’t blame her. I treated her awfully and she hasn’t got over it and she has a right to hate me.” He looked really genuine and it broke my heart that he could think he deserved this for being a bratty kid back in school and for things Bellatrix did that had nothing to do with him.   
“Draco, stop this. Hermione doesn’t hate you. And you're not to blame for things your aunt did, it wasn’t you. There’s obviously been a mix up or something, i'll just phone her and ask her what the hell happened.” As I grabbed my phone out of my pocket it starts ringing. I answer and it’s Hermione asking how things are.  
“You better get over here now.” I tell her and put the phone down. I hear a distinct POP of apparation then. I turned around to see Hermione stood by the front door.  
“Stay here.” I practically growled at Draco. I stormed over to where Hermione was stood and she turned around with wide eyes as she saw me.  
“What the hell is this Hermione!” I snarled while gesturing at the shit hole of a house.  
“It’s your house Harry.” She said very calmly and on purpose. She knew what i was talking about, which meant she knew how much of a shit hole it actually was. And which means it wasn’t a prank.  
“Stop with the bullshit Hermione. Draco is over there nearly in tears, refusing to come near the house and thinking you hate him!” That last bit got a reaction out of her. Finally. I don’t like shouting at Hermione but i am not in the mood for this right now. Her eyebrows shot up and she opened her mouth to mimic an o.  
“No! I don’t hate him. H-how could he think that!?” She stammered.  
“You look at that house and what we have been through. Then put yourself in Draco’s shoes and imagine you found out that the girl you bullied throughout school and who got torchered by your aunt, had done this to you, how would you feel, Hermione?!” Now she looked like she might cry. Dammit, I can’t feel guilty. I need to defend Draco.  
“I’m soooo sorry Harry. I thought you and Draco could do it up to how you want it exactly. I thought it would be a fresh start for both of you. I thought you’d like it. I really didn’t mean anything bad by it. I just thought that you’d get to spend more time together, like we did when we were doing up grimmauld place, i know how much you enjoyed doing it. And I thought you’d get to talk more and laugh more and think about family more because i know how much you both want a family. I thought you could build it while building a life together. I really thought you’d like it Harry.” She sobbed. Great, I had Draco in tears at one end of the front yard and Hermione in tears at this end. She had nothing to be upset about, this was her fault! All though thinking about what she said, that kind of makes sense, and annoyingly it sounded fun. I did really enjoy doing grimmauld place up, and here we can start from total scratch.   
“Okay fine whatever Hermione, can you just leave us alone for now please.” She looked about to sob again but lifted her chin and said   
“I really am sorry Harry, I did it in good will.” And then apparated away. I did feel a little bad about it but not much. Hermione should have just told us or not done it at all. I sombered over to Draco who was still staring off in the distance with red rimmed eyes.   
“Hey” I said gently so as not to startle him. It didn’t work though and he jumped. “Draco she doesn’t hate you, and I’m still upset you’d think that.”  
“Then what Harry? She must hate me because it’s the only reason she’d do something like this.” He signed.  
“Actually, the reason she did this was kinda sweet.” That made Draco look at me like I was nuts. “I know, I know. But here me out. She thought back to how much I enjoyed sorting grimmauld place out and clearing it out to make it my own. She thought that's what I’d want to do again, with you, for our family. She figured we’d get to spend more time together and get to talk more and laugh more. She really didn’t mean to hurt you dragon.” Draco blushed at his pet name and punched my shoulder lightly for it.   
“Don’t call me that.” He scowled but blushed anyway. “Fine let's give it a go then, it's not like you can give it back anyway because SOMEONE didn’t read the contract.” He said while glaring at me. I held up my hands defensively and looked around innocently. That made him giggle wetly. He wiped his face and I gave him a quick kiss and took his hand and we walked back up to our new house. We stopped at the front door and I gave his hand a quick squeeze while hearing him take a deep breath.  
“Ready?” I asked him and then looked over to him. I was trying to take this all in. This was going to be a very important memory for us and I wanted to remember it all.  
“Ready.” He assured me. Merlin I love him. This moment is one of the most important ones we’ve had so far. I think my favourite was our first kiss through. It was just after our second date. The date had just kept getting worse and worse throughout the night, yet I just kept trying to make it better. I think he knew I was going to kiss him that night, and that’s why he didn’t just leave. It was a lovely end to a awful date.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set 3 years in the past. X

3 years ago  
“Do i look okay?” I asked Ron. I was incredibly nervous and had sweated through my first shirt in 10 minutes. I’d spent all week picking that out too, it was perfect.  
“Yeah mate, calm down. It’s only Malfoy, why’re you getting yourself so worked up?” Ron raised an eyebrow at me very suspiciously.  
“Its Draco,” i reminded Ron, “and besides, you know how he is about looking good and I don’t want to look bad in front of him if I’m gonna try-“ i managed to cut my rambling off before i gave to much away, and that’s when Hermione walked in.  
“You’re going to kiss him, aren’t you Harry?” She squealed out, while coming to sit next to her boyfriend on my couch.  
“Merlin, too much information!” Ron blurted and made a sick face. I quickly threw a pillow at him for it. He burst out laughing then.  
“Okay I’m sorry.” He got out between laughter. “It's just, you and Malfoy! I never in a million years would have seen it coming.” He said and then just as I was about to speak he urged, “you and Malfoy!” And looked utterly puzzled. I just shrugged because if i was honest I didn’t know where it had come from either. It had just happened, mainly thanks to Teddy and Andromeda.  
I hadn’t even realised Hermione had got up and walked over to fix my tie until she had her hands on it. “You’re smiling Harry.” She said while smiling up at me. “You really like him don’t you?”  
“Yeah Hermione, I think I really do.” I grabbed her hands and gave them a small squeeze and smiled down at her.  
“Well you look very smart if i do say so. Now are you sure you’ve tried everything on this hair of yours?” She tried stroking it down once again as if it was going to work the fifth time. I just laughed and pulled away to look at the clock. It was nearly 5 and he would be here soon.  
“Yes Hermione, now he’ll be here soon so you two,” i glared and pointed at them, “and i say this with love, fuck off.”  
“Don’t need to tell me twice, I don’t think I’m ready to meet ferret while he's being all nicey nice.” Ron said and jumped up off the sofa, that got him a glare from Hermione and he held his hands up in defence. “I’m only joking.” He said to Hermione. “Tell her you know I’m joking Harry.”  
I laughed and shook my head. “I know no such thing.” I winked at him jokingly, he was gonna get a telling off tonight, but he deserved it for calling Draco ferret.  
“Have a great time tonight Harry and tell me how it goes.” Hermione kissed my cheek and headed for the floo while grabbing Ron’s arm quite harshly.  
“And whatever you do, don’t shag the twat.” Ron shouted just before green flames enveloped him. I laughed despite myself at that. Having them two over had definitely calmed me down and made time go faster, so i guess I was ready. I took one last look in the mirror and happy with how I looked, sat down on the chair to wait for Draco. It was 5 exactly now and he shouldn't be too long.   
When it got to 10 past 5 I started getting nervous, jiggling my leg, pulling a bit of cotton on the chair, and going through every possible scenario in my head. What if he didn’t like our first date, what if he didn’t like me. It's so like a Slytherin to not show up. Should I call him, should I go over to his? No I can't do that, I'll just wait for him. He must be stuck at work or something.   
It was half past 5 now and getting dark outside, but I couldn’t be bothered to even turn a light on. This was awful. I’d never been stood up before, but then again I hadn’t done a lot of dating before. But being stood up sucks and I vow to never stand anyone up, if i ever date again that is. I summoned over a glass and the fire whiskey and poured myself a generous helping. If I wasn’t going out to have a drink tonight, then I was staying in and drinking. I loosened my tie and took my shoes off. After my third glass I had nearly forgotten about being stood up. I poured myself another glass and put the wireless on as loud as I could stand it. I stood up and started dancing around after a bit, I even took my pants off.  
“I LOVE THIS SONG!” I shouted to nobody. I had finished that last glass and was getting a bit unsteady on my feet so I turned around to sit down and that’s when I saw him. He looked a bit ruffled and red in the cheeks as if he’d run here. I dropped my glass and it shattered everywhere. This was so embarrassing, I was pissed as a fart with no pants on and dancing around my living room. I instantly turned the wireless off and the silence was eerie.  
“Draco…” I croaked and coughed to clear my throat, “what are you doing here?” I stupidly asked him, I knew what he was doing here and he was just, I looked at the clock, ...an hour and 15 minutes late!  
“We had a date.” Draco said timidly and looked embarrassed.   
“Yeah we did.” I slurred and pointed at the clock, “over an hour ago, I didn’t think you were coming.”  
“I’m so sorry Harry, the new girl in the shop blew up a potion and I’ve only just managed to get the shop back to normal. The floo isn’t working either so I basically ran here.” He said, looking sheepish.  
“Well you could have text, or called, or bloody owled.” I was too drunk for this conversation, “stay here, i'll be back in a minute.” I signed and I stumbled past him and up the stairs to the bathroom. I took a sobering potion, washed my face, brushed my teeth and put some more pants on as my others were clearly back downstairs and I was not going back down there without pants. As I came back downstairs, straightening my tie, I could see Draco was still in the doorway to the living room.  
“You can sit down, you know.” I told him, coming back into the room.  
“Ahh yes right.” He darted over to the couch, probably hoping I’d sit next to him on it but I was still a bit angry so I took the chair. Which made him frown a bit.   
“I really am sorry Harry, and I didn’t text or call or anything because I kind of lost track of time and I’d thought I’d have been done well before 5.” He looked at me with big eyes while ringing his hands. Dammit how could I not forgive him when he looked at me like that, and he did have a genuine reason for running late.  
“You don’t have to come up with excuses Draco, if you don’t want to do this anymore then just tell me? I know it's been awkward and daunting and-“  
He jumped up then, “no, I do Harry, really! Please go out with me Harry?”  
“Hmmm I don’t know about that.” I was teasing him now and gave a little smirk. He instantly recognised what I was doing and his whole face lit up. He threw a pillow at my face and rushed over.  
“You jerk, get up. Otherwise I’m leaving and you can go back to dancing drunk in your underwear on your own.” He teased back. I put my hands up to my face and spoke through my fingers.  
“How long were you stood there?” I paused.  
“Long enough.” He smirked at me and went through the door. Great, I rolled my eyes at him even though he couldn’t see me. I hope he felt that eye roll.  
I hope the rest of the night goes well though and I also hope I finally get to kiss Draco Malfoy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m. Posting 2 chapters again this week, only because chapter 6 is quite short. Next week it will be back to one chapter a week.   
> This chapter takes place the same night as chapter 5. Enjoy x

We were walking home from the worst date in the history of dates. And to top it off, it was pouring down with rain, and we only had one umbrella which only covered half of both of us. There wasn’t much talking going on and I didn’t blame him, both our moods were low after tonight. We were nearly back at mine so he could use the floo to get home, and I hadn’t even had a chance to kiss him yet. Not that he’d want a kiss after tonight, maybe I should just leave it tonight and see if he even wants to see me again. Not likely if I’m honest, and if he does then he's either mad or he likes me as much as I like him.  
We arrived at mine after not too long and I opened the door for him to go inside. I walked in after him and put down the umbrella which was dripping all over the floor. Note to self -don’t forget to clean that before I fall over it in the morning. As I was putting that down, Draco must have mumbled a spell because suddenly I was dry. Turning around to inspect Draco, so was he.  
“Thanks.” I said.  
“You’re welcome.” He said politely and stuck out his chin.  
“That was…” I couldn’t even finish that sentence and just rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment.  
“Horrid, awful, gruesome.” He declared confidently. But then I saw the smirk just at the side of his mouth and I burst out laughing.  
“Yeah something like that.” I said between laughter which he had joined in with.  
“I think I should have just joined you in getting plastered and dancing in your underwear.” He shrieked with laughter and then added, “would have been much more entertaining.”  
“I think if i had had another drink, I would have either been naked or on the floor,” i said hysterically, “or both.” I added.  
“Afraid I would have taken advantage of you Potter.” Draco teased while going through to the living room.  
“Don’t think i would have minded Malfoy.” I countered. At that he looked up and raised his eyebrow, but before I could try and understand what that look meant, it was gone.  
He was standing next to the floo now so I moved closer.  
“Well Potter, it's been a pleasure. Next time, I’ll definitely be choosing where you take me.” He insisted and i stood in shock for a minute, and without thinking blurted out,  
“You wanna go out with me, AGAIN?”  
“Yes why do you have a problem with that?” He asked. And although he may have sounded confident I could see the tell tale signs of nervousness.  
“No not at all, next Friday?” I was quick to reassure.  
“That seems reasonable, I'll owl you.” He turned to get some floo powder but I didn’t want him to go just yet, so I grabbed his hand.  
“What are you doing? I need that to go home.” He smirked and turned around to face me. I think he realised then how close I’d gotten and blushed slightly.  
“Maybe I don’t want you to go home just yet.” I smirked at him, “maybe, just maybe, we could end this horrid, awful, gruesome ,” I lifted my chin and did an impression of him just a minute ago, “date...on good note.” We were very close now and as he looked up through those long blonde lashes, he blushed deeper and turned his face away.  
“You’ll have to do better than that Potter!” He snapped and took his hand back. I stood there in complete shock for a minute until I noticed he had paused going to grab more floo powder.  
“Merlin, you’re a shit Malfoy!” I grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up while spinning. He shrieked with laughter which made me laugh and spin some more. “POTTER! Put me down this instant!” He tried to say seriously but utterly failed while ending it with a laugh. When I eventually put him down, we were both out of breath and grinning at one another. I was just about to speak up when he grabbed my face and planted his lips on mine. It didn’t last as long as I would have hoped as we were both still out of breath and had to pull apart. But it was the best first kiss I could have asked for between us. His lips were so smooth and delicate, and his hands were ever so gentle on the sides of my face. I had also managed to put my hands on him. I can’t remember doing so, but there they both were on either side of his hips pulling him closer. It felt like it went on forever but not long enough and that we were in our own little world without a care for the real one.  
“There you go then, got what you wanted?” He asked, pulling away and straightening his coat.  
“Most definitely.” I hazeley smiled at him. He’d lost his elegance for a second there and was trying his hardest to look smart and classy again. So of course i kissed him again, only a peck on the lips but it was enough to get the desired effect. His cheeks turned red once more and he looked almost in shock and had stopped messing with his clothes.  
“Much better.” I said while grabbing the floo powder for him, “Now I’ll see you on Friday and make sure you bring that delicious blush of yours with you.” I was just winding him up now to see how flushed I could get him, and might I say it was working fabulously. “Malfoy Manor.” I shouted and took one more look at his beautiful grey eyes and pushed him through with a quick good night. I went straight to bed after that and actually got a good night's sleep for once.  
I was having a wonderful dream involving a certain blonde, when I was rudely interrupted by someone shaking me awake. I snapped awake and shot up, just to slam into someone else’s head. The pain was instant and stung like a bitch.  
“Owww! Harry, why did you do that!” Hermione complained.  
“Yes oww!” I said while holding my head and trying to squint my eyes open. “It wasn’t my fault someone scared me awake, Hermione.” I grimaced at the pain then as I tried to scowl at her.  
“Sorry Harry. But you don’t need to be so skittish.” That was her way of apologising.  
“Yes alright Hermione, I’m sorry I’m ‘skittish’ but if you don’t remember i went through a war not knowing whether i would live or die or what was around the next corner. So please excuse my jumpy-ness. Now what do you want?”  
“Oh right sorry Harry. Well I just came to see how your date went?” She asked having recovered from the scene before.  
I smiled to myself and remembered what had gone down yesterday after Ron and Hermione had left me waiting on Draco.  
“It was horrid, and awful, and gruesome.” I said while smirking and shaking my head.  
“Oh Harry, I’m so sorry. I really thought it would work out between you two.” She really did look sorry for him and then confused at his smirking.  
“So did I, that's why we are going on another date next Friday.” I smiled at her. She squeeked and pounced on me before I could object. Not that I would have, I loved Hermione’s hugs.  
“Harry that’s awesome!” Hermione had taken on some of Ron's laid back language since they had been spending so much time together and I just loved it and it made me laugh to myself. She pulled back and looked at me.  
“What?” She said with a raised eyebrow much like Draco’s but I must admit Draco makes it look much sexier.  
“Nothing.” I smiled at her. Then looked down and realised I was still in bed in only my boxers and my best mates girlfriend was on top of me hugging me. I blushed and asked, “hey, where’s Ron.”  
“Downstairs making breakfast.” She said and climbed back off the bed, clearly seeing what I was seeing. “Now get up and get dressed and get your butt downstairs so you can give us all the gossip.” She said on her way out of the bedroom.  
I lay back against the pillows and thought of Draco for about a second before Hermione popped her head back in and said, “now Harry!” and slammed the door. That made me jump up again much like I had when she had woken me not so long ago.  
“Alright, alright. I’m coming.” I got up and dressed and went downstairs.  
“Morning sleepy head.” Ron called from where he was plating up breakfast for the three of them.  
“Morning.” I gratefully took my plate and tucked in. Ron was a great cook and must get his talent from Molly because I know for certain that Arthur can’t cook. I noticed Ron and Hermione looking from one another to him and back again, and decided to let them sweat a bit longer, Hermione at least deserved it.  
“So!?” Ron all but shouted. I actually flinched, not ready for such a strong reaction. So I just glared at him with a full mouth and continued chewing. “Well he's not in your bed so I presume it didn't go that well.” Ron mumbled and now it made sense as to why Hermione had woken me up and not Ron himself. It was in case Draco was in my bed. I hit my hand against my forehead in understanding (which hurt still from Hermione’s wake up call) and could feel my cheeks burning. Hermione elbowed him and gave him a hard look before I could do anything worse.  
“Ron! Harry isn’t going to sleep with him on their second date!” She hissed. I decided I was going to make Ron pay for that.  
“Hey! Who said we didn’t sleep together!” I smirked as both of them blushed. “He might have left for work or something.” I played on it but then I saw Hermione's brain working.  
“He didn’t stay, because you woke up in a fright with having someone else in the bed.” She declared having worked it out.  
“Why were you in his bed?” Ron said which I ignored and spoke up.  
“Yes alright Sherlock, no he didn’t stay, and no we didn’t sleep together but that doesn’t mean it didn’t go great.” When I thought about that I furthered on it and said, “okay no it didn’t go great but we made up for it in the end and I’m seeing him next Friday. Happy now?” I asked their confused faces.  
“No!” They both blurted. To which Ron added “and who’s Sherlock?” I rolled my eyes and recounted the night for them, leaving certain things out. By the end of it they were both smiling and so was I. I realised I couldn’t wait for the next date.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter comes back to the present, with Harry and Draco at the house. Hope you like it x

“Where do we even start?” Draco asked, staring at the now fully broken front door, not having the courage to enter the house just yet. Luckily he had me and all my gryffindor courage that he usually winds me up about.  
“We start by going inside.” I take his hand and quickly pull him along. He tries to hold back and dig his heels in but with all my auror training I am far stronger and he knows this by now so gives up quickly and lets me drag him through our front door.  
“Harrryyy.” He whines.  
“Come on draco, we just have to have a look around, take some notes and then we can go back to grimmauld and work out which room to sort first. Deal?” I eyed him until he gave in with a sigh.  
“Fine, deal.” He was sulking now but it was adorable and I just had to give him a kiss. He was surprised by it but it wasn’t unwelcome as he soon started kissing back. In fact he was getting pretty into this…  
“Hey!” I jumped back from him, “no seducing me. We need to get this done.” I knew I was right in what he was trying to do as soon as I saw that evil little Slytherin smirk on his face.  
“But harry, don’t you want me, in our brand new...lovely...house.” He struggled a bit with the ‘lovely’ but got it out in the end. It showed how much he didn’t want to see the rest of this house. I felt bad but this had to be done if he actually wanted a house in the end.  
“Love, let's just get it over with and then we can go back to mine and I'll cook you your favourite meal and we can watch whatever you want on tv and do whatever you want for the rest of the night. How does that sound?” I offered with a pleading tone.  
“You don’t have to do all that Harry.” He said hunching his shoulder and looking down, “I’m sorry I’m being such a pain.” He started walking towards one of the rooms but was soon stopped by my hand.  
“Hey. You’re not being a pain,” he raised a pointy eyebrow at me for saying that, “you’re not! I swear. In fact I find it funny and kind of adorable.” I laugh sweetly at him.  
“Whatever.” He huffs at me and finishes walking in the first room. I follow behind slowly so I can avoid anything he tries to throw at me if one of his mood swings happen again. I round the corner and look around the room. It doesn’t look too bad in here actually, it's a bit dusty and needs new windows but overall it's adequate (that’s all Draco’s rubbing off on me that i know words like that now) for the first room. I look over at Draco and he nods once and leaves for the next room. I quickly jot down some things i'll need for this room and what i can put in here and then get the tape measure out for the windows. As I’m doing that I hear music start to play, a piano if I’m correct. I stand up and make my way through the house to one of the rooms at the back. The melody is soft and sweet, I feel like I’ve heard it before. I walk into the room quietly and see Draco sitting across the room at an old piano. He’s played for me before but not very often as I don’t have a piano at grimmauld and I don’t go to the manor a lot. He plays beautifully and I do love watching him. It's like he forgets about everything and lets his mask slip away. All he knows and sees and feels is that piano and those notes, and it's extraordinary. I don’t know how long I’ve been standing here leaning against the door listening but it seems like an eternity and yet only minutes. His music pulls me in and again i feel like i know this tune, he's probably played it for me before.   
I must make a noise then because he cuts off all of a sudden and turns around to face me. His face is covered in tears and he looks shocked to find someone else here. I stand up straight immediately and look confused at him. He turns around to wipe his face discreetly.  
“I didn’t hear you come in.” He whispers, still facing the piano.   
“Draco, what’s wrong love.” I say just as quietly and calmly. I’m really starting to worry now, Draco hardly ever cries and now it never stops.   
“Nothing. I’m fine, I just got a bit of dust in my eye... I saw this piano in here and just wanted to see if it works.” He stood up and closed the piano and then attempted to move past me. I scuttled in front of him before he could get out the door.   
“I’m really starting to worry now Draco, you're scaring me. What is going on? Is it the house? If you really don’t like it, I will sell it.”  
“It's not the house Harry.”  
“Fine, is it me?” God, I hope it’s not me.  
“No harry! It’s not you. I told you it’s nothing okay? So just leave it.” He pushes me aside and walks out. From the creaking of the floorboards I can hear, he has walked out the house. I want to follow him but I don’t know if i should. What if he wants to break up? It's all my fault, I pushed and pushed for this and now it's all crumbling. I didn’t even ask him before I made a life decision for us. It's my fault. I made him panic and pushed him and it's all my fault. It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault...  
I was so caught up in my head that I didn’t realise I had started struggling to breath and had gone down to the floor. I wrapped my arms around my knees and began to rock while repeating in my head that this was all my fault. I also didn’t hear Draco come back.  
“Harry look,” he shouts while walking back towards the room, I don’t hear him though. “I’m really sorry tha…..” he stops short when he sees me and his eyes go wide. “Shit! Harry!” He falls to my side and lifts my head with his hands on either side of my tear stained face. “Harry? Talk to me, are you okay?”  
“It's all my fault, it’s all my fault.” I repeat to him, barely even recognising he's there while crying and struggling to breath.  
“Harry, you need to breath. Take a deep breath and let it out. Follow my lead.” He begins taking deep breaths and after a few minutes I copy. I eventually calm down enough to breath properly and collapse on Draco crying.  
“I’m so sorry Draco, I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me.” I cry into his shoulder.  
“I’m not going anywhere love. What brought this on? You’ve been doing so well lately.”  
“You left and it's my fault. I pushed too hard for all this and you walked out.” I continue to cry.  
“Hey, I’m right here. I just needed some air okay. I’m not going anywhere, you’re stuck with me.” I realise he’s crying again now.  
“Draco I’m so sorry. We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, i just thought it would be fun and we'd get to spend some time together. But if it’s gonna be too much stress for you I’m getting rid of it.”  
“No Harry, stop. Stop apologising and stop saying you’re going to get rid of our home.” He squeezes me and pulls my head back to look at him.   
“So you wanna live here?” I ask him. He grins at me through the tears.  
“I mean, not right now because it's a mess.” He chuckles and carries on, “ But eventually yes, of course. And I’m even a bit excited to restore it ourselves.”  
“Then why were you crying at the piano?” I ask him because he still hasn’t told me.  
“Because I’m a mess right now, I don’t know why but i am. My emotions are all over the place just like straight after the war and I’ve not got a clue why. So you’re just going to have to put up with the crying and the mood swings and everything okay.” All his seriousness is back on his face now and I know not to laugh at him when he's like this. Or he’ll go days without speaking to me.   
“We’re both a mess. I just had a panic attack because you walked out our front door.” I smirk at him and try to get him to crack a smile. He almost did but then his face went serious and he looked down at our untwined hands.  
“Harry, you really scared me. It’s been so long since you had one I didn’t know what to do.”  
“You did enough by just coming back. I don’t know why I panicked, I just kept thinking that I had ruined everything and with the way you’ve been acting lately I thought you were gearing up to break up with me.” Seeing his face I quickly added, “I know you aren’t going to, well i hope anyway, but deep down I’ll always be that little boy in the cupboard who felt abandoned by everyone. That’s where the panic comes in and just watching you walk away crying brought that pain and panic towards the surface.”  
“Harry i really am sorry. I shouldn’t have walked out like that.”  
“No Draco, it's fine. You can’t watch over me all the time and if you want to leave one day then you can’t think all about me, you need to think of yourself.”  
“I’m never going to leave you Harry, I promise.”  
“Does that mean you want to get married.” I cheekily winked at him. He shoved at me and attempted to get up, but I took his hand and pulled him back down to sit in my lap.  
“Don’t push it Potter.” He growled at me.  
“Come on dray, marry me.” I kissed him sweetly on his chin and leading up his jaw and then one on his mouth, he leaned in for more but caught himself and sat up.  
“If you call that a proposal then you are more of an oaf than i thought.” He got up and held his hand out. “Come on oaf, we are going back to yours and you are cooking me my favourite dinner, remember.” I grabbed his hand and he hauled me up. I smiled at him and gave his mouth another quick kiss.  
“Okay, i suppose i did promise.”  
“Yes you did.”  
As we were leaving, I put some quick wards up to repel anyone from coming near, not that anyone would want to get near this place but better safe than sorry. I grab Draco’s hand and prepare to apparate but he stops me by saying something.   
“Merlin, remember the first time you had a panic attack in front of me. That was horrible. I didn’t know what to do.” He looked worried again so i squoze his hand and chuckled.  
“Yeah i remember, and you nearly had one yourself just from seeing me.” I laughed a bit harder and looked over to Draco. He looked like he was remembering and started to smile and laugh a bit.  
“Oh yeah.” We were both laughing quite hard now and all I felt was love for this man. This man who was the most unlikeliest of men to fall for. But I fell hard and I don’t think I could ever stop loving him. With that thought I made a plan and apparated to grimmauld place with my lover.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter.  
> This is another past chapter.  
> Hope you enjoy. X

I was very nervous for our date today. For one, I was going to his, aka Malfoy manor, so we had both had meals at each other’s. For another, this was date number 5 and with all the snogging and groping that went on last time, I’m pretty sure something is going to happen tonight. I’m not sure I want to even go to the manor let alone do anything there. I know it's Draco’s home but I don’t know how he can relax there with all the horrible memories. I've been agitated all week thinking about tonight. Usually I’m ecstatic before a date with Draco but I’ve been dreading this one. I've barely slept and my nightmares have been worse than usual and I can’t even bare to tell Hermione I’m going there, I don’t want her nightmares to come back. I just have to keep myself busy and my mind off it. I could do with cleaning the house up a bit, it's gotten a bit messy lately because I’ve been so busy. Actually I’ve hardly been home this week, I’ve been working late almost every night and when I’ve not been there I’ve been at Ron and Hermione’s and if not there then I’ve been to see Teddy. He’s 3 already and growing so fast, I see him as much as I can and I’m trying to be a father figure for him as he has nobody else. He’s a great little kid and I do see him as my family. He may have started out the same as me with both parents dying at the hands of Voldermort but he will grow up loved and knowing all about his parents and himself.  
Anyway back to cleaning. I’m gonna start with the kitchen, I think. The dishes need doing and the oven needs cleaning. I should probably clean the cupboards out as well seens I’ve not been eating here. Oh and the floor will need a good clean. I go into the kitchen and start the hot water tap to clean the dishes. I’m doing this by hand otherwise it will be done too quickly and anyway it kind of relaxes me doing it by hand, too much magic puts me on edge and I only really use magic at work.  
The hours tick by and I don’t even realise the time, which was the whole point really. I’m cleaning the shower when I hear a pop of apparation. I look around and see Kreacher staring at me.  
“Master Harry sir.” He bows at me and then carries on. “Master Harry is meant to be seeing Master Draco sir. Master Harry told Kreacher he was leavings at 6 and Kreacher sees it’s nearly time, yet Master Harry is not ready.” I finally click on to what he's saying and look at my watch. He’s right! It's 5:45 and I’ve not had a shower or anything. Shit!  
“Merlin! Thanks Kreacher. I owe you one.” I say to him and rush to get up.  
“Master Harry owes Kreacher nothing. Kreacher just being a friend to Master Harry, just like Dobby would have wanted sir.” At Dobby's name I pause and look at him. He hasn’t mentioned Dobby for a while but it just occurred to me that he was probably grieving for Dobby as much as I was. Kreacher’s a lot nicer since having his locket back and having everything explained to him. Nobody ever sat him down and explained what was going on, they were just horrible to him because he was a bit grumpy. I admit I was one of those people for a bit but I eventually understood.  
“Thanks a lot Kreacher.” With that, I gave him a quick nod and went to fetch my clothes. I heard him disapparate and quickly jumped in the shower. It was one of the quickest showers I’ve ever had and when i got out i spelled myself dry including my hair which I don’t usually do as it leaves it more of a mess than towel drying it. I try to tame it with a couple of spells and some gel but that’s as good as I will get it. I finish getting dressed and head to the kitchen to get the bottle of wine I bought for tonight. I grab it and turn around quickly to head to the floo when I nearly slam into Draco and drop the bottle of wine. It smashes all over the newly cleaned floor.  
“Merlin and Morgana Draco!” I hadn’t even heard the floo go, my mind was too preoccupied.  
“You’re late, I came to check you hadn’t blown me off, or you weren’t dancing in your underwear again.” He smirks at me.  
“I didn’t even hear you floo in, sorry i got distracted and lost track of time.”  
“I didn’t just floo right in, I was ringing for a while. I even shouted a couple times when I came though. Are you okay?” He asks worridley. I look down and frown at the floor.  
“I just cleaned that.” I bend down to start picking pieces up when suddenly all the glass and spilt wine disappears.  
“Did you forget you're a wizard.” He tries to joke.  
“No but it still leaves marks if I don’t do it by hand.” I stand up and go to get a cloth to start cleaning the wine marks off the tiles.  
“Harry seriously are you okay?” He’s frowning now when I look over so I try to smile.  
“Yes I’m fine just need to clean this and then we can go.” I get down on my hands and knees and start scrubbing the floor. After about 5 minutes i can hear Draco getting close. He crouches down next to me and puts a hand on my elbow.  
“Come on Harry, I think the floors clean enough. Let’s go and relax at mine. Dinners ready and I can grab another bottle of wine.” He says trying to sooth me. He doesn’t know that he’s making it worse. I don’t want to go there.  
“I have to stay here and clean. There are still marks.” I start breathing heavily and scrubbing harder and harder. My knuckles are catching on the floor and starting to bleed but I can't feel it. I can’t feel anything and I can't breathe and I have to go to the Manor and that’s where he was and where Hermione got tortured and where Luna was held prisoner and I can't breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.  
“HARRY!” Draco’s shouting finally breaks through the fog and he's holding my hands and I’m breathing heavily not being able to catch my breath. “Harry what are you doing?! You need to breathe properly. Just calm down please.” I could see Draco’s face now and he looked visibly shaken and scared. I try to breathe for him but I just keep thinking of where I’ve got to go once I calm down. “I’m going to get help. Stay here.” As soon as he gets up and leaves the room I lean my head on my knees and start rocking. I can hear voices distantly but can’t hear what they're saying, my brains too loud and I can’t breathe.  
“Harry.” A small voice said to me. I recognise it straight away and begin crying. “Harry, it's okay. I’m here, you don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to. Just calm down and take some deep breathes with me.” Hermione say but it’s like she’s talking through fog. She takes my face in her hands and begins breathing deeply. I try to copy but it's no use, this ones a bad one and it’s gonna take more than a few breathing exercises. “Harry please. You’re scaring Draco. Just take some deep breaths.” As soon as she says Draco the fogginess recedes. I remember he’s still here and open my eyes wide. I look over to him and he looks like he's going to be sick. Shit! I need to calm down.  
“Breathe in and out Harry.” Hermione reminds me. I look back over at her and this time I really try. I start copying Hermione and breathing in deep breaths and releasing them slowly. I can feel myself calming already. Hermione can see that I’m calming down so goes over to Draco. “Hey are you okay? Harrys going to be fine, this happens sometimes but never for long.” I’m still crying softly and looking at Draco to see he’s okay. That’s when I see the tear tracks on his face and then I’m horrified when I hear what he says.  
“I- I thought I was the only one to have those..those episodes.” He puts his hands up to cover his face and starts crying much more. Me and Hermione share a look and I carefully get up while she leads him to the sofa.  
“It’s called a panic attack Draco, and they are perfectly normal to anyone who has been through any kind of traumatic event, especially what we’ve been through.” She sits him down carefully on the sofa while explaining.  
“I never knew.” Is all he says through his shaky voice. I look at Hermione and give her the nod that I’m okay and I'll handle this. She puts a hand on my cheek and gives me a small smile and then leaves back through the floo. I sit down next to Draco on the sofa and put my head on his shoulder and curl up on him.  
“I’m sorry I scared you Dray. I didn’t know how unready I was for going to the Manor. I should have told you, I’m sorry.” He looks down at me then and frowns.  
“Why are you sorry. I basically caused you to have a, what was it, a panic attack.” He says slowly, trying the name out for the first time.  
“No you didn’t, I should have said something when you invited me.”  
“I shouldn’t have pushed you Harry. I'm so sorry.” He grabs my hand and begins rubbing circles with his thumb.  
“I'll forgive you if you forgive me.” I joke with him and give him a tiny smirk.  
“Deal.” He chuckles.  
“How about we just stay right here for now. I’m comfy.” I yawn.  
“Yeah me too.” He says and wraps his arm around me to pull me closer so I’m lying on his chest.  
I must have fallen asleep eventually because the next thing I know I’m being woken by little kisses on my face and fingers twirling my hair. I open my eyes and realise it's quite dark, it must be nearly 9 o clock if not after. I look up to Draco and realise he's lying down and I’m basically on top of him. I blush a bit and say morning.  
“It’s hardly morning.” He smirks and strokes my cheek. “Are you feeling better?”  
“Much.” I wrap my hands around his neck and bring his head forward for a snog. He hums into it and pulls back after a minute.  
“I can tell.” He laughs a little. I pull back a bit, embarrassed but he reaches for my face and brings it back down to his. The kiss is nice and gets heated rather quickly. After a couple of minutes we are rubbing up against each other and moaning. We’re breathing heavily and take a breath from kissing.  
“Harry….” he says breathlessly.  
“Hmm” I hum while kissing his neck and pushing my hips down into his, which made him moan loudly.  
“Harry, are you sure about this?”  
“Definitely.” I say while looking at him. He’s flushed and clearly wants this so why is he holding back. “Don’t you?” I stop moving for a minute to try and get an answer.  
“Of course i do but…” he looks away and then carries on “I've never done this before, okay?” Oh. He looks so embarrassed but he shouldn’t be. So what? I’ve only done it a few times and I was pissed most of the time.  
“Okay.” I say as casually as possible and carry on with my moving and kissing every inch of his beautiful pale neck.  
“But-“  
“Draco, just relax and have fun. Do you want to top or bottom, I don’t mind either way as long as you’re comfortable.” He frowns then and pushes me away slightly. I know he's using his mask as a safety net because he’s embarrassed.  
“I don’t know Harry! I don’t know what I’m doing.” He sits up and leaves me to fall forward where he just was. I ignore the twinge of hurt and sit behind him while kissing the back of his neck now.  
“That’s okay. We can try new things. Have you ever thought about what you would want?” I lower my voice and get close to his ear. “Have you ever thought about how you want me?” He moans again and leans his head back.  
“Everything, I want everything. I want you to fuck me and I want to fuck you.” My hands are on his chest and getting lower by the minute.  
“But what do you want more though, my love?” I whisper in his ear. My hands are almost at his crotch and I can tell he’s starting to lose it a bit so I stop just clear.  
“Fuck me Harry, please.” He practically begs. I press my clothed member against his back while at the same time grabbing his. We both moan and Draco tries to push back against me at the same time as pushing forward into my hand.  
“Hold on.” I whisper and apparate us to the bedroom. I push him down on his back on my bed and crawl between his legs. All the while trying to kiss him and touch him as much as possible to keep him in the moment. I want this to be good for him. I pull my top and trousers off quickly leaving my underpants on. Next I go to grab his top and pull it over his head but he thinks I’m leaning in for a kiss so he leans forward too. I don’t mind giving him that of course. I’m nearly losing it by the time we break apart so i pull his shirt off and undo his trouser buttons slowly while kissing each one. He tries to thrust up but I hold his hips down.  
“Merlin Harry please.” He begs breathlessly.  
“Please what?” I taunt him just because it's so hot seeing him so undone for me.  
“Please Harry. Fuck me please.” Wow he must really be gone if he’s speaking like this. I finish undoing his trousers and then take off his pants. His dick is lovely. It’s in a bed of fine white blonde hair and I can't wait any longer, I need to taste it. I bend down and lick a long strip from the bottom to the top. Draco moans loudly and thrusts up again. This time I’m not holding his hips but there’s nothing there for him to thrust into. I do it once more before I move further down. He spreads his legs further apart for me so I can see everything. I slowly lick below his balls and then latch on to his hole. He moans loudly again while calling my name. I can tell he loves this so i carry on licking it. Then I point my tongue and harden it while stabbing it into his hole. He goes crazy at this, moaning and thrusting and clenching. At this point I’m thrusting into the bed but can’t help it. I eventually remove my tongue and look up to see if he’s okay. We are both sweating and he looks absolutely shaggable.  
“I’m gonna stretch you now Dray, okay?”  
“Hmmm” is all he can manage. I accio the lube wandless and wordlessly and cover my fingers. By the time I had all three fingers in, Draco was a mess underneath me, moaning and wreathing about.  
“Okay are you ready?” I have to ask.  
“Yes! Please Harry.” That’s all the go ahead I need. I take my pants off and line up. I push in slowly while watching for any signs of pain. He screws his face up a bit and I stop.  
“You okay?”  
“Yeah, just carry on.” He says through clenched teeth. When I’m pressed up against his arse I stop for a minute to let him recover a bit.  
“How does it feel?” I ask him  
“Hurts a bit, just stay still for a minute.”  
“I will, don’t worry.” I lean down to kiss his again and can see his erection has deflated a bit. While I’m snogging his mouth I put my hand between us and try to get him excited once more. He gets back into it rather quickly then.  
“Okay, move Harry.”  
After that it goes quite quickly, he cums first after I press against his prostate and a few thrusts later I’m cumming to. I pull out and collapse next to him breathing hard and sweating.  
“Fuck.” He says through breaths. I open my eyes and look at him. He looks beautiful like this and a certain word comes to mind but i can’t say that yet. It would freak him out and possibly me too. I relax back into the after sex haze. I slip my arm under his head and bring it on my shoulder. I kiss the top of his head and pull a blanket over us after using a scourgify spell on us.  
“Yeah, fuck.” I say sleepily. I hope he wants to do that again sometime.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present. Enjoy x

Draco was fast asleep in bed after having stuffed himself silly with his favourite meal of confit of salmon with new potato and crab crush. He loves when I cook it for him and always eats more than he should. He loves salmon but likes any type of fish really. While he’s sleeping I’m wide awake thinking about the house. Of everything we need for it and how long it's going to take, especially if it keeps ending with both of us in tears like today. I still don’t know what’s wrong with him but as soon as morning comes I’m going to sit him down and have a talk with him about it. I’m worried and it’s clearly stressing both of us out. A lot of things are stressing me out at the moment actually. The house, my job, Draco, not seeing Teddy enough. I hadn’t even realised I was so stressed until my panic attack at the house. I don’t even know what to stress about first these days. Right now though i think i need to concentrate on Draco, I’m sure Ron is concentrating on the case at work, and the house can wait. As for Teddy I’m sure I can nip and see him tomorrow. I turn to look at Draco and he looks troubled even in his sleep. What am i going to do? I lie back down and cuddle up to him. For now I’ll sleep and we can sort this in the morning.  
I wake up to Draco getting dressed and heading to the door, so I immediately shoot up.  
“Hey! Where do you think you’re sneaking off to?” I say while yawning. Why’s he trying to sneak out like the morning after our first time.  
He stops dead and turns around.  
“I didn’t want to wake you, but I’ve got an important delivery arriving at the shop and I need to sign for it. So i have to go.” He tries walking away again but I stop him.  
“Why can't the new girl, what’s her name, sign for it?”  
“Her name is Cassie, and like I said it’s important so I need to be there.” He looks kind of apologetic but I’m still pissed.  
“Fine, leave me again. If you need me I’ll be at OUR house.” I retort back and stomp off to the bathroom. I thought maybe he would come after me or wait for me but when I came out of the bathroom 10 minutes later, ready for the day, he’s gone. I put it to the back of my mind and apparate to the new house. I’m only there for a couple of hours though as I can't really concentrate. It hasn’t distracted me like I thought it would. Maybe Teddy can distract me. I go over to the floo but don’t know whether it's usable. Oh well better try it, might have to add it to the things that need fixing. I throw some powder in and say andromeda’s address and stick my head in with my eyes closed, hoping my head doesn’t go up in flames or get chopped off.  
“Uncle Harry!” Is the next thing i hear.  
“Phew it works. Hey little cub. Is your grandma in? Can I come through?” I ask even though I know Teddy wouldn't be in the house alone.   
“What do you mean phew it worked?” Came Andromeda's voice from the doorway.   
“Oh hey, never mind that i'll tell you later. Can I come through? I need some Teddy time.”  
“Of course Harry, I told you anytime.”  
“Thanks Andy, stand back Teddy.” After I know Teddy’s safely out the way, I step through and am immediately crashed into by Teddy who’s trying to wrap his arms around my waist.   
“Hey cub, how are you doing today?” I ask him while running my fingers through his hair, which is currently changing from light brown to black to match mine.  
“I’m okay, I was a bit bored, but now you're here so that’s better.” Me and Andy both laugh at that.  
“Well, what do you want to do today?” I ask him, and I know what he's going to say because it’s what he always says.  
“CAN WE GO TO THE PARK AND FEED THE DUCKIES!” He shouts while jumping up and down excitedly. I laugh and pick him up for a hug.  
“How did I know you were going to say that?” He loves the park and the ducks and we go every time I come round, even in the rain and snow.  
“Because we go every time, silly.” He says to me and then runs to get his shoes and coat.  
“How are you andromeda?” I turn to her and ask.  
“I’m doing okay thank you Harry. Trying to arrange his 6th birthday party with him looking over my shoulder every 5 minutes is proving difficult but i'll get there.”  
“Hey you know you can alway ask for my help. I’ll try and come everyday if it will help. I've been wanting to see him more often anyway. I’m missing the little guy. And he can even come help at the new house.”  
“Oh you're in the house now then?” She says excitedly. I roll my eyes at her and smile, she drops her excitement then “what?”  
“Let’s just say it's another grimmauld place and Draco’s not happy.”  
“Ahh that’s why you came round, for a distraction.”she chuckles. I raise my hands and shrug my shoulders as if to say I didn’t know what else to do. Just then Teddy comes running round the corner with a coat and wellies on.  
“I’m ready!” I didn’t get any duck feed from grimmauld, where I have a big sack waiting for days I see Teddy, so we’ll have to go buy some more first and maybe a treat for Teddy while we’re there.   
“Okay let's go then. Hold on tight to my hand.” I hold my hand out for him and he runs up and grabs it.  
“Bye grandma.”  
“Bye Teddy, be good for uncle Harry.”  
“Bye Andy, we should only be a couple of hours, I'll send a patronus when we are on our way back.” I say and wink at her so she’ll know when to pack up.  
“Alright, take your time, bye.” She winks back, waves, and then we are gone.   
I apparate me and Teddy back to andromeda’s after a couple of hours at the park. We fed the ducks and splashed in some puddles, then we walked around the park, which me and Teddy nicknamed the flower park because it's covered in flowers all around. After that I pushed him on the swings and then we sat on the pier with our feet dangling. It definitely took my mind off things.   
“Right come on mister, bath time.” I say to Teddy before he runs off. “You don’t mind Andy?”  
“Go ahead Harry. Thanks by the way. Would you like to stay for tea?”  
“Oh please uncle Harry, pleassseee…”  
“Okay okay, i'll stay but you still need a bath.” I chase him upstairs and get the bath ready with lots and lots of bubbles just how he likes. I take his wet clothes off and put them in the wash basket for Lottie to clean, then get him in the bath.   
“Did you have fun today?”  
“Loads of fun!” He declares happily.  
“Would you like me to come again tomorrow?” I ask him.  
“Yes please!” He gets so excited by this that he ends up soaking me with bath water and bubbles. “Oops, sorry uncle Harry.” He looks upset but it was only an accident and I don’t mind, so I quickly use a spell to dry and look at him.  
“It’s okay, it was only an accident and it's all gone now. Bit of magic and nothing happened. Now what animal would you like this week?” His eyes go wide and he cheers up at this question then thinks about it for a minute before answering.  
“A horsey!”  
“What’s the magic word?”  
“Please.” He puts his hands together like he’s praying. So I get my wand out and turn some of the huge mountains of bubbles into horses. They fly out of the water and gallop around Teddy and then over to me. Teddy loves it when I make bubble animals and he asks for horses quite a lot.  
“You like horses don’t you Teddy?”   
“Yep. They are my favourite animal.” He declares proudly.  
“Well did you know me and Draco are going to have horses at our new house?”  
“Really! Can I come and see?”  
“Yep but it won’t be for a few months yet, you can even ride them if you want.”  
“Yes please!” He giggles and carries on playing with his bubble horses. I'll let him have a bit more fun before it comes down to washing his hair.   
I eventually get him out of the bath and get him changed for bed. We then head downstairs to have tea. Andy’s waiting for us at the table when we come into the dining room.   
“Sorry to keep you waiting Andy.”  
“No worries Harry, I just thought I’d wait in here for you. Lottie?” Andromeda’s only house elf appears then.  
“Yes mistress Tonks.” It still hurts to hear that name.  
“We are all ready to eat thank you.” The house elf bows low and with a click of her fingers the food is in front of us.   
After the war Andy struggled a lot, she had lost her husband and her daughter and her son in law. To top it off she had a baby to look after. I tried to help out as much as I could at the time but it wasn’t enough. I was struggling to keep myself going. That’s when Draco appeared in her life and offered to help out, he even gave her Lottie to help around the house. She got back on track after a while and deals quite well nowadays. But if it wasn’t for Draco back then, Merlin knows where she would be right now. It’s actually how me and Draco met again after the war. But that’s another story.  
The food was lovely as always and time ran away from me. Teddy had long been put to bed and drinks were poured for us adults. Me and Andromeda sat by the fire talking and laughing and just having a good time. When I eventually realised it was dark outside I decided it was time to go back to grimmauld place. I thanked Andy for tea and for her company and told her I’d see her tomorrow. Then i went over to the fireplace and floo’d home. As soon as my feet hit the floor I was assaulted by screaming.  
“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Then something smashed above my head and I ducked. “I’ve looked everywhere for you! You said you’d been at the house, so i went there and you weren’t fucking there! I’ve been worrying all day! I even called Hermione but she hadn’t heard off you.” Draco was still shouting but seemed to have calmed down a tiny bit knowing I was okay.   
“I got bored at the house, so I went to see Teddy and Andy.” I said calmly, while magically getting rid of the smashed glass behind me.   
“Oh you’ve been there all day have you?” He said accusingly. Okay now I’m getting pissed off.  
“Yes Draco, as a matter of fact I have. I took Teddy to the flower park and fed the ducks and then gave him a bath back at home. Andy was then kind enough to offer me tea and I accepted, then when Teddy went to bed me and andromeda had a couple of drinks. Okay?!” He stared at me for a second and then deflated.  
“Fine. I’m going home, I just wanted to know you were safe.” Before he can do anything I go over to him and take his hand.  
“No, you’re coming to bed and tomorrow we are going to talk about what’s been wrong lately. Please.” I add at the end because I really don’t want to argue about it. He just nods and gives a little half smile.   
“Okay. I’m tired Harry.” Whether he’s saying he is physically tired or emotionally tired I don’t know.  
“I know. So am i.” Whether I’m saying I’m physically tired or emotionally tired, well I don’t know that either.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s my nephews 1st birthday today so I’ve decided to post an extra chapter this week. Plus I’ve written loads lately, I’m up to chapter 25 and I think its coming to an end. We shall see anyway.   
> This chapter carries on from the last chapter.   
> Enjoy X

Morning came soon enough and I was the first to wake for once. I looked over to Draco and put my arm around his stomach. He was so beautiful and pale it reminded me of snowflakes. I don’t know how long I was staring at him when he eventually fluttered his eyes open.  
“Why are you rubbing my stomach?” He asked groggily. I looked down and low and behold I actually was rubbing his stomach. I had no idea I was doing this let alone for how long. I stopped and moved my hand up to his face to cup his cheek.  
“Why can't I rub your belly?” I smirk at him and kiss him once.   
“Weirdo.” He declares and chuckles to himself. I smack his shoulder playfully and then smirk at him. He’s gonna get it now. I pin his arms above his head and put my lips to his stomach. Before Draco can do anything I’m blowing raspberries on his stomach and he’s howling with laughter.  
“Stop! Harry- Harry stop!” He’s screaming while laughing at the same time because he just can’t help it.   
After I finish torturing him and we’ve both caught our breath I roll back onto my side of the bed. This is immediately followed by Draco rolling over and draping himself over my chest.   
“You were warm, don’t move.” He says and cuddles up to me, still a bit flushed. He always says he only gets close to me because I’m warm but Draco Malfoy is a cuddler. But I don’t mind, I like being close to him.   
We chat for a bit in that same position, neither of us wanting to move. Also I don’t think either of us want to start the conversation we’re about to have. So we just won’t, not yet anyway.  
“Breakfast in bed?” I ask him, finally sitting up.  
“I suppose, but don’t be gone too long, I’m still cold and just might have to find a replacement for you.”   
“What like a blanket?” I smirk at him and get out of bed. I didn’t get away with that comment though because as soon as i stood up he leaned over and slapped my naked arse.  
“Owww fuck Draco.” I screech in a very unmanly voice. I can feel my cheeks burning (and not just the ones on my face) and can hear him snickering, so I get some boxers on and head downstairs to make breakfast cursing my boyfriend for being a slytherin along the way.  
I’m coming back up the stairs with both our breakfasts 20 minutes later when I hear Draco in the bathroom throwing up. I rush to the bedroom to put down the breakfast tray and then practically run to the bathroom. By the time I get there though Draco is at the sink washing his mouth out.   
“Oh merlin, are you okay?” I ask him, a little panicked.  
“Yeah I’m fine now. It wasn’t much this time, probably because I didn’t eat much yesterday. Is breakfast done? I'm starving.” He says it so casually that I’m shocked. I don’t know what to say so I just point at the bedroom. He walks past me and says a quick thanks. I’m stood there for a minute longer thinking about what he just said and then I slowly walk back to the bedroom. Standing at the door I’m watching Draco tuck into his breakfast. Its like nothing just happened and he wasn’t sick. What the hell is wrong with him.   
“Did you say ‘this time’? As in this has happened before?” I point out and look at his face to try and gauge a reaction. He stops the fork half way to his mouth and his eyes go a little wide. This is all the reaction I need, to know that he knows he’s been caught out.   
“Errr…” he mumbles something incoherent and carries on eating.   
“What?” He looks up at me then and frowns.  
“I said yes, it's happened a few times.” Seeing my face is starting to panic he’s quick to assure me. “Just over the last few weeks and it seems to be getting better, so no need to worry.”  
“Right that’s it! You are telling me everything right now. What is going on? Are you ill? Have you been to the doctors?...are you dying?” I have to ask that last bit because it’s just like Draco to know he’s dying and not tell me. My eyes start watering and all I can think is ‘what am i going to do without him.’ Draco looks gobsmacked and has stopped eating holding a sausage on his fork. But then I realise it's not me that’s made him stop, it's the sausage. He throws his covers back and runs to the bathroom again, this time locking the door to prevent me from entering.  
“Draco come on, let me in.” All I can hear is him throwing up and I just want to comfort him.  
“No it’s disgusting!” He says and throws up some more.   
“I don’t care, I’m your boyfriend. Please Draco…” Finally I hear the door unlock and open it wide to see Draco sat on his knees in front of the toilet. I go over to him and kneel down. He’s throwing up again now so i hold his hair out of his face and rub his back.  
“It's okay. You’re okay. Shhh.” I keep repeating. He seems to have stopped being sick for now so I accio the washcloth for him and he wipes his face. He puts it to the side and looks at me with tears starting to fall from his eyes.  
“What if I am ill Harry? What if I’m dying?” Then he breaks down completely and falls forward into my chest. I put my arms around him and rock him gently.  
“You’re not dying. You’re fine. I’m here now.” I say shhhing him.  
“I've been acting so casual about this and pretending it's not happening but it's starting to scare me now Harry.” He continues sobbing.  
“It's okay babe. I will call st Mungos as soon as I’ve got you in bed and get you an appointment today. Even if it means using my ‘boy who lived’ status. I’ll do that for you.”  
When I had eventually calmed Draco down enough to get up, I helped him through to the bedroom and got him back in bed. After moving the sausages away from him. He said he wasn’t hungry anymore anyway so I told him to just drink the fresh orange juice to which he happily agreed. I went downstairs and straight over to the floo. I chucked some powder in and shouted st mungos. The receptionist answered almost immediately in a small bored voice.  
“Hello, st mungos, Donna here. How can- oh Mr Potter! Can I help you sir?” She perked up as soon as she saw who it was. But this time it didn’t annoy me because I needed to get Draco some help.   
“Yes please. I need to get an appointment TODAY.” I couldn’t stress that today enough. “My boyfriend has been being sick for a few weeks now apparently and he’s been very down lately too. He’s always crying which is not like him. I’m very worried. He's not eating and is very stressed.”  
“Okay, I'll see what I can do Mr Potter. One moment please.” She disappeared for a couple of minutes and then was back. “Okay mediwitch Bell has a free appointment at 10 past 4, is that okay?”  
“That’s great! Thank you so much.”  
“You're quite welcome, Mr Potter. I hope everything goes okay.” She says and seems like she means it. I thank her again and close down the floo. I head back up to the bedroom with a glass of water in case Draco couldn’t handle the juice. But when i get there, he's fast asleep. I put the glass down and decide I have time to make a quick stop off at Andromeda, although I won't be taking Teddy To the park today. I scribble Draco a quick note and leave it by the water. He probably won't be up by the time I get back but just in case. I gently kiss his forehead and pull the covers over him more. I’m standing by the bed staring at him for a bit longer praying to Merlin that he’s okay. I don’t think I’ve seen him that scared in a long time.   
I finally get up the courage to move away and head back downstairs. I promised Teddy I’d come round today. I apparate instead of using the floo because I’m running low on powder and need to save it in case of emergencies. When i get to the front door I’m about to knock when it’s opened by Lottie and then all I see is a flash of bright blue and then I’m tackled.  
“UNCLE HARRY!” Oh so it is teddy.  
“Cool hair Teddy!” I say picking him up to hold on my hip. He’s getting a bit big for this now but I can't resist.   
“Thanks! Ginny and Luna came to visit this morning and helped me decide on a colour.” As he’s saying that, his hair is turning to black as it usually does when he sees me. “Shit.” He says then, noticing his hair.  
“Teddy! You are not to say that word!” I tell him because he probably doesn’t know, in fact he’s probably heard it off Ginny this morning and thinks it’s okay to say.  
“Why? Ginny said it this morning when she spilled her cup of tea.” He says confirming my suspicions.  
“Well she shouldn’t have said it. It’s a naughty word. Don’t let your grandma hear you say that.”  
“Don’t let grandma hear you say what?” Andromeda came into the hallway and inclined her eyebrow at us.  
“Nothing!” Me and Teddy said at the same time. We chuckle at each other and I put him down so we can go into the house.   
“I can't stay long today Andy sorry. Draco’s not feeling very well so I’m taking him to see a mediwitch later, but i want to get back to be there for him.”  
“Oh dear, I do hope he’s okay Harry.” She looks worried now and I curse myself for telling her about the mediwitch.  
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Don’t worry yourself.” I try to reassure her.   
“Well lets hope. Would you like a cup of tea Harry?” She asks heading for the kitchen.  
“Yes please Andy, that would be lovely. I'll go in the sitting room with Teddy.” After an okay from andromeda I head to the sitting room and find Teddy already there attempting to put his coat on.   
“Hey cub, why you putting that on?”  
“Because you always tell me to put it on when we go to the park.”  
“Well we aren’t going today Teddy. Your cousin Draco isn’t very well, so I've only come for a quick cup of tea and then I’m going home to look after him. I’m sorry we can’t go but maybe tomorrow yeah?” He stops trying to put his coat on and sits on one of the big chairs.  
“Oh okay, i hope Draco is okay.” He says with a sad face.  
“I’m sure he’ll be better when we tell him about those horses we are going to get.” I say cheerfully trying to get a smile out of him.  
“Wait, so you haven’t told him?” He says with a bit of excitement.  
“Nope, I’m hoping you will help me. But only when he’s feeling better.”  
“Yesss!” Just then, Andy comes in with the tea tray.  
“What are you so excited about?” She asked Teddy while pouring our drinks.  
“Uncle Harry said I can be the one to tell Draco about the horseys!”   
“That’s very nice of him, did you say thank you?”  
“Thanks uncle Harry!” He says quickly then. I laugh and say no worries.  
Soon enough we’ve finished our tea and I’ve had a quick game of exploding snap with Teddy. I tell him I might see him tomorrow depending how Draco is. We say our goodbyes and I head back home through the floo.   
We’ve still got a couple of hours before we need to be at st mungos so if Draco’s still asleep I’m going to leave him for another hour. I head up the stairs and can’t hear anything so he probably is still asleep. I pop my head around the bedroom door but he’s not there. So I checked the bathroom but no luck there either. There’s a chance I could have missed him downstairs though. I check a few rooms on the way down including the library but there’s no sign of him. I get downstairs and head through to the kitchen, which is empty but the back door is slightly ajar. I released the breath I didn’t realise I was holding and set off outside. Draco’s lying on a blanket on the grass with a warming charm over him. He looks so peaceful, just staring at the sky, I decide to not disturb him and just watch him for now. After about five minutes Draco signs and turns his head slightly to look at me.  
“Are you going to stand there all day or would you care to join me?” I smirk at him and take the hint. As I’m lying down next to him, he takes my hand and looks at me. In this moment he looks like a scared kid again. I squeeze his hand, give him a smile, and kiss him softly.  
“We’re seeing a mediwitch at 10 past 4. It's going to be okay.” He just smiles sadly and returns to staring at the sky.   
“I love you Harry.” He all but whispers. If I wasn’t so close to him, I wouldn’t have heard him.  
“I love you to Dray.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes back to the past.  
> Enjoy. X

A few months into Harry and Draco’s relationship.

“So? Have you told him yet?” Hermione asks me from where she’s sitting on the bench. She had a day off and decided to come with me and Teddy to the park. Currently I was pushing Teddy on the baby swing. Teddy was 2 and a half already and looking more and more like his parents everyday. It still hurt a bit to look at him but everyday it got a bit better.   
“What?” I ask her only half listening as most of my attention was on my godson who was currently giggling and telling me ‘higher’.  
“Draco. Have you told him yet?” She peers at me from over her takeaway cup of tea.  
“Hermione what are you going on about?” I have a suspicion she’s on about a certain 3 words that me and Draco have yet to say to each other.   
“Come on Harry, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Love!” She declares as if it’s nothing. I turn around and glare at her.  
“No Hermione we haven’t said it and it's none of your concern.”  
“So you do love him! Oh gosh Harry, that’s wonderful.” She says before I know what I’ve done. I smack my forehead with my hand and groan.   
“Hermione! I never said that and so what if I did. It doesn’t matter because he hasn’t said it either and I don’t think he even feels that way.”  
“How do you know if you never tell him how you feel?” She kind of had a point there but I wasn’t going to tell her that.  
“It doesn’t matter. We are having a good time at the moment and I don’t need to complicate things with my ‘feelings’.” I use air quotes at her when saying feelings, to which she just rolls her eyes.  
“Fine, if you don’t want my help you should just say.”  
“I don’t want your help hermione.”  
“Yeah hermy, not help.” Teddy chirps up from the swing. Me and Hermione both chuckle at that and I help Teddy to get down.   
“What do you want to go on next, cub?” I ask Teddy. He thinks about it for a minute and then his eyes go wide with excitement.  
“Can we feed duckies?”  
“That’s a great idea Teddy.” Hermione says and reaches into her bag for some duck food. “Here you go, only a little at a time remember.”  
“Fank you hermy.” He says grabbing the food and toddling over to the duck. I quickly keep to his side to make sure he doesn’t fall. He stops close to them and sprinkles some food onto the grass. They gladly eat it and wait for more. Hermione comes over and puts her arm through mine and I sign deeply knowing what’s coming.  
“Why don’t you just tell him Harry?”  
“Because Hermione, it’s not that easy. This is Draco Malfoy we’re talking about. We used to hate each other and now I love him. Seriously what the hell? What if he doesn’t feel the same and never can because of our past?” I droop a bit and look to the floor.  
“The past is behind us Harry and I’m pretty sure Draco of all people has tried to forget it. Just tell him. What’s the worst that could happen?”  
“He could laugh in my face and leave me.” I mumble mostly to myself but she hears me and elbows me in the ribs.  
A few minutes later we are chatting and watching Teddy play with the ducks. He’s giggling and running around with them pretending to quack.  
“What time did you say you were meeting him?” Hermione asks.  
“I told him I’d meet him at Andy’s at 2.” I looked at my watch and back over to Hermione. “Speaking of which, we should get going.” She nodded and we both looked over at Teddy. As soon as I saw him I froze and heard Hermione make a little gasping noise. Teddy was still playing with the ducks but instead of seeing his normal face, he had changed it into a ducks face. Memories came flooding back of Tonks messing around at the table changing her face into all sorts of animals including a duck. And then more memories came up of her and with them brought memories of Remus, like when he came over to tell me Teddy had arrived and they had named me godfather. I could feel wetness on my checks and realised I was crying. I hadn’t even realised Hermione had moved until I looked up again and saw her speaking to Teddy in a low voice. I covered my face with my hands and turned away, but I couldn’t get the memories to go. It's like they were assaulting my brain and I was getting a headache from it.  
“Harry?” Hermione says in a whisper and reaches for my arm. Then I can feel Teddy wrap his arms around my leg.  
“I sowwy, uncle hawwy.” I can hear he’s near tears so I look down at him.  
“You don’t need to be sorry little cub. It just reminded me of your mummy.” I pick him up and give him a hug and then start walking with him on my hip. “She used to do all sorts of animals, you know? She did pigs and dogs and even ducks.” Teddy smiles at that and my headache starts to recede. I realise that he’s probably not heard a lot about his parents before, so I vow then and there to tell him as much as I can about Remus and Tonks because they deserve for their little boy to know them and this little boy deserves it too.   
Half an hour later we are all back at Andromeda’s having a cup of tea while I’m waiting for Draco to arrive. Hermione went home about 10 minutes ago so she could do some reading before Ron got home from work. She rarely gets days to herself lately, with working so hard at the ministry. She’s going to be a great minister of magic some day. She works so hard and tries to include everyone in everything and promote fairness. She’s already working on proper work contracts for house elf’s and equality for all magical creatures. She really is amazing.   
Just then the doorbell rings and brings me out of my own head.  
“I’ll get it Lottie, it’ll be Draco.” I shout to the little house elf while jumping up out of my seat to rush to the door. I take a deep breath and straighten my T-shirt before opening it. And there he is, looking lovely as ever holding a broom-wait, A BROOM?! Did we agree to go flying and I’ve forgot? No I wouldn't forget that. Is he here to cancel our date so he can go flying? No, I don’t think he’d do that-  
“Hey! Before you say anything, no, we didn’t make plans to go flying. But it's such a lovely day today and I thought maybe you would like to?” He says shyly, obviously nervous to ask me about this.   
“Oh, err, yeah. Great. We’ll have to stop at mine so I can pick up my broom though.” I tell him while opening the door wider for him to come inside. “I've just gotta say goodbye to Teddy and Andy, and then we can get going.”  
“Yeah okay.” We walk through to the sitting area together, where I left Andy and Teddy.   
“Hello Draco, how are you dear?” Andromeda says as soon as she spots Draco.   
“Good thank you aunt andromeda, how are you doing? And hello Edward, nice to see you again.” He winks at Teddy and gets a giggle out of him.  
“We’re doing well thank you. Teddy has started to use his metamorphmagus trick to change his face into animals. Isn’t that right Teddy?”  
“Yep. All by myself.” He says and gives the biggest smile. I remember his face back in the park and I smile sadly. Draco looks over and seems to sense I’m feeling low because he grabs my hand and squeezes lightly. I smile at him and between us we have a silent conversation saying that we will talk later about it.   
“Right, we better get going. I’ll see you very soon little cub. Andy, thank you for the cup of tea.”  
“Anytime Harry, and you too Draco. Teddy would love to see you more often.”  
“Yes of course, I Will try to come round more often. I apologise, I’m just so busy with the shop, but i'll try.” She smiles and just waves him off. In the meantime, Teddy has pounced on me with a hug goodbye.   
“Bye uncle Hawwy. Bye Dwaco.” He runs over to Draco and gives him a hug too. The next thing to happen is just the cutest and my heart nearly explodes. Teddy’s hair starts to turn the whitish blond of Draco’s. Draco smiles down at Teddy and scrubs his hair.  
“Bye Teddy, I’ll come around real soon okay? Bye aunt andromeda.” We all shout bye and I pull Draco through the floo to grimmauld place.  
“I won't be a minute, I'll just run upstairs and get my broom.” I tell him and run upstairs.  
When I’m coming back downstairs with my broom in hand, I notice the library door is open. So I pop my head around the door and there is Draco admiring a book.  
“You are welcome to borrow any books.” I say and startle him.  
“Oh Harry, sorry. I was just looking around...and...and. Well this is quite a collection of rare books you have.” He strokes a few book spines along a shelf.  
“Like I said, you are welcome to borrow any. You can spend as much time here as you like.”  
“Yes. I would like to spend some time here.” He says but he isn’t looking at the library or the shelf’s or even the book in his hand, he is looking at me and is smiling. I smile back and then clear my throat.  
“Not right now though. I’m about to beat your arse at a seakers game, right?” I smirk at him.  
“Ha. Wrong, I’m gonna be the champion tonight, so suck it.”  
“Hmm maybe i will.” I wink at him and he blushes. It’s so easy to make him blush because of his pale skin. I grab his hand and lead him to the front door. “So, where are we going for this game?”  
“Just a local quidditch pitch I know for us non professional types.”  
“Speak for yourself Malfoy.” I shove his shoulder playfully.  
“Last time I checked, you didn’t play professionally Potter.”  
“Yeah well, I could have. I had offers.” He goes serious again then.  
“Wait really?”  
“Yeah, a few. But they only wanted me for my status as ‘the boy who lived’.”  
“Well I think they probably wanted you for your skills as well Harry.” I turn to him and smirk again.  
“Draco Malfoy, did you just give me a compliment?”  
“Tell anyone and I’ll have to tell everyone you got hit by a rogue bludger and you’ve gone mad. I think they’ll believe that over me handing out compliments.” He says almost proudly and points his chin out.   
“Okay okay you win. Now come on, I wanna fly.” We apparate out and Draco takes control as I have no idea where we’re going.   
When we land, I take a look around. I never even knew this place existed, I’ve been mainly flying at Mollys and Arthur’s place. To be fair, we have some good games there. Maybe Draco can come one day.  
We get on our brooms and do a few laps while shouting to each other.  
“SO WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT FACE BEFORE WITH TEDDY?” Draco shouts over from his broom. I roll my eyes because I didn’t think he’d bring that up now.  
“IT WAS NOTHING.”  
“DIDN’T SEEM LIKE NOTHING.” He persists. He does not give up easy.  
“JUST, TEDDY DID SOMETHING THAT HIS MUM USED TO DO AND IT HIT ME HARDER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD.” I tell him because I know I will tell him sooner or later anyway, may as well be sooner.  
“OH.” It’s silent for a bit and then he shouts over, “WHAT DID SHE USED TO DO?” I look over to him and decide to land. He sees me land and turns around and comes after me. “Hey I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. You don’t have to tell me of course. I’m sorry Harry let’s just-“  
“No Draco, it's fine really. I just didn’t want to keep shouting was all.” He looks relieved at this and I tell him what happened and about Tonks. He listens to every word and understands because he knows Teddy and he knows of Tonks.. and he knows about how hard the war was. After that we decide to get into the game and both mount our brooms once more. I realise the snitch and off we go.   
After about an hour and a half we landed, Draco in victory. We were both out of breath and our adrenaline was still pumping.  
“Wooo! I told you I’d win.” He says trying to catch his breath.  
“You cheated!” I declared jokingly to wind him up.  
“Oh shut up.” He pushes me, buzzing with energy and happiness.  
“You shut up.” I say back like a child.  
“Make me.” He says then and gets real close. I smirk and grab him, while bringing our faces closer.   
“Maybe I will.” I whisper in his ear seductively. He sucks in his breath and pulls away slightly, only to slam his lips into mine. It's hot and passionate and we’re both so in the moment that we aren’t thinking about where we are or who’s around or anything other than each other. I lift him up and he wraps his legs around my waist and our kissing intensifies. We pull back a bit to breathe and I start kissing and licking his neck while he breaths into my ear. He’s moaning and breathing hard but he manages to speak.  
“Merlin Harry.” He says it like he’s dreaming and can’t stop himself. “Ahhh yeah. Ohhhh Harry yes! Ohh I love you.” As soon as I hear that, I stop completely. He must realise what he’s said then because he freezes too. My eyes are wide and I’m in complete shock. Did he really just say that?! And did he really say it first?! Oh shit, I need to tell him back quick before-  
Just then, he jumps down off me and looks at me with wide horrified eyes. He opens his mouth but instead of saying anything he abruptly turns around, grabs his broom off the floor and apparates out.   
What the fuck just happened!  
I apparate to Grimmauld because I don’t know what else to do. He must have gone back to the manor, and I haven’t been there yet, not since the war. We haven’t tried again since my panic attack in the kitchen. But I need to see Draco right now and tell him I love him too. Otherwise he’s going to be overthinking things and he’s going to get embarrassed and never want to see me again. Or he might not have even meant what he said and now he thinks that I think he loves me when….Okay maybe I was over thinking now. Still, I need to go get him. I need to go to Malfoy manor. Okay, I can do this. I’m Harry Potter, the boy who lived twice, the saviour of the wizarding world, blah blah blah. I’m still just a person, I can’t do this.   
After arguing with myself for a bit longer, I find myself at the front door ready to apparate. Okay let’s do this.   
I apparate to the gates of the manor and they open to welcome me in. So far so good. I walk up the drive and to the front door, but then I start freaking out a bit and breathing hard. ‘I’m okay, this is for Draco. I love him.’ I keep repeating this to myself and it gives me a bit of confidence to knock on the door. A house elf answers the door and tells me to come in and wait when i tell him I’m here to see draco. The little elf directs me to a sitting area and I take a seat on the couch. I’m a little uneasy and I’m tugging at the sleeves of my jumper when I hear running. Draco skids around the corner with wide eyes.  
“Harry! What are you doing here? Are you okay? You can leave anytime. You don’t have to be here.” He says all in a rush.  
“Draco it’s okay, I’m fine. I know I don’t have to be here.” I chuckle a bit at that and look into his eyes. “But i needed to tell you that…that I love you too.” I take a deep breath and relax a bit then. He just stares at me with wide eyes and an open mouth but doesn’t say anything. Is this how he felt on the field? Because this is awful. “I mean, I love you, you don’t have to love me. If you didn’t mean it that is. If-“ Draco rushes over and kisses me so lovingly I nearly melt.  
“I do love you.” He whispers with his cheek pressed against mine and our arms around each other. I chuckle and say the only thing I’m thinking.   
“Phew… I do love you too.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m posting this chapter as a celebration. I’ve finally finished this story. It has 34 chapters and just under 92,000 words. It has taken me a while but I got there.   
> So here’s the next chapter, we go back to the present and there’s a big reveal.  
> Enjoy. X

“Dray! Come on, we’re going to be late.” I shout up the stairs to Draco. It’s 4 o’clock and our appointment is in 10 minutes and Draco still hasn’t come down from getting ready.  
“Draco?!” He doesn’t answer so I make my way upstairs towards our bedroom. On my way past the bathroom, I can hear the tap running so I knock on the door. “Draco? You okay?”  
“...yeah.” He says back, through the door. His voice came out quite rough and sad.  
“I’m coming in.” I tell him softly and open the door. When I see him, I have a quick flash back to the time he was crying in moaning myrtle's bathroom. I quickly clear that from my head though because the Draco now looks a mess and needs my help. He is leaning over the sink with the tap running and has clearly splashed his face a few times. His eyes are red rimmed and even through the wetness on his face, I can see the tears falling.   
“Dray? Are you okay?” I just look at him and walk forward slightly. He shakes his head and falls into me.  
“I’m really scared Harry. I know I deserve everything that’s happening to me but…” I pull him back then to see his face and frown at him.  
“Draco, you don’t deserve anything bad to happen to you. Why are you saying that?”  
“I do. Everything I did during the war. It’s coming back for me.” He sobs some more and I brush the tears away gently with my thumb.   
“You mean the things you were forced to do as a child. No, I don’t think they are Draco. Come on, we have to go. I'll be with you the whole time okay.” He nods and takes my hand.  
“Promise you won't leave?” He pauses and asks.  
“I promise love.” We head downstairs and go through the floo to the hospital.  
Someone shows us to a room immediately and tells us to wait for healer Bell here. As soon as they leave Draco grabs my arm and squeezes.  
“Ow Draco what the…” I turn round to frown at him but instead I see his frightened face from before. “Hey, it's okay. I’m here.” I take his hand off my arm and keep it in my hand.  
“Why didn’t you tell me the appointment was with her. I told you my past was coming back.” He’s starting to get a bit hysterical now and I’m frightened he might have a panic attack.   
“Draco calm down, breathe, and tell me what you're talking about.” He takes a deep breath and then just as he’s about to say something, the door opens and in walks Katie Bell. Ohhhh, shit! It didn’t click when the nurse had said mediwitch Bell but here she was, Katie Bell. The same Katie Bell who Draco had nearly killed in his attempts to get a cursed necklace to Dumbledore.  
The room had seemed to freeze when Katie had walked in, but now I could hear Draco’s breathing getting heavier and heavier. I turn round, facing away from Katie, and take his face in my hands.  
“Draco, it's okay. Just breath. Feel my hand? I’m here. Everything’s okay.” Katie must pick up on what’s happening because she jumps into action.   
“Hello Mr Malfoy, Mr potter. What seems to be the issue today?” She says to us, very professionally. It seems to work though because Draco has relaxed a bit. Although he doesn’t seem to be able to speak.  
“Hi ka-healer Bell. Draco hasn’t been himself lately. His emotions are all over the place, he’s always tired, he’s been throwing up for a couple of weeks…”  
“I also had cramping in my stomach.” Draco says quietly next to me. I look over to him and he clearly knows he should have told me that because he looks guilty.  
“Okay, just a few questions and then I’ll examine you if that's okay.” Draco nods his head so she continues. “How long have you and Mr Potter been trying? And what potion are you taking?” At that me and Draco both look at each other confused.  
“Ermm, trying to what? And I’m not taking any potions at the moment.” Katie looks just as confused as us then.   
“Wait, you mean you’re not taking a pregnancy potion?” Draco sits up straight and widens his eyes.  
“Certainly not. What does that have to do with anything.”  
“I’m sorry. It's just, well, all your symptoms point to pregnancy Mr Malfoy.” Okay what did she just say? My mouth is hanging open and I don’t know what to do.  
“What…” Is all Draco can say.   
“Let me examine you before i say anything for sure. Please lie down and lift your top over your stomach.” He looks at me so I nod and after he’s done that I take his hand and stand next to him. Katie comes over and waves her wand in front of his stomach and says a spell. Draco tenses up a bit at this, so I bring his hand to my mouth and kiss his knuckles. She lowers her wand and speaks quietly.  
“It may take a moment for the results. If your stomach glows yellow, it means you are pregnant. If it glows purple it could mean something serious and more spells would need to be performed. If it glows green, then nothing is wrong there.”  
We wait patiently for a minute and then a multicoloured light appears on Draco’s stomach. Its changing colours fast but getting slower and slower by the second. Draco closes his eyes and squeezes my hand. Then the light stops changing colours and stays at a yellow.  
After about 5 minutes of staring and silence, Katie speaks up.  
“I’ll give you two a minute to talk shall I.” And leaves us alone. We are still holding each other’s hand and staring at Draco’s stomach. I look up then and am about to say something when Draco almost shouts.  
“I didn’t take anything! I swear Harry! I didn’t do anything!” He’s starting to cry again now but I’m still in shock and don’t know what to say. “Please Ha-Harry. Say something.” He hiccups while crying.  
“I...i don’t know what to say, Draco.” I feel shitty for not comforting him but I am honestly in shock. How did this happen if he didn’t take anything? We aren’t ready for this. We can’t handle a baby. We haven’t even started on the house.   
Before I can do anymore questioning in my head, Katie knocks and walks back in. Draco quickly wipes his face and harshly pulls his hand from mine where they were still attached.  
“Have you had enough time? Do you have any questions before I do any more tests or go through everything with you?”   
“Does Harry have to be here?” Draco asks then, looking away from me and crossing his arms. I stare at him in hurt with pleading eyes but he refuses to look at me. I guess I deserve this.  
“Erm..no.” She looks at me in apology and then says. “If you don’t want him here he has to leave.” I take the hint and leave the room. I lean against the wall next to the door and slowly slide down it and put my head in my hands with my knees up.  
‘Merlin, how did this happen? Why always me?’ I say quietly to the empty corridor.  
20 minutes later a grey looking Draco comes out of the room, arms filled with potions and pamphlets, followed by Katie.  
“Anything you need, just send me an owl or floo me if it's an emergency.”  
“Thank you healer Bell.” Draco says and walks off without a single glance at me.  
“Sorry Harry.” Katie whispers to me as I’m passing.  
“It’s not your fault Katie, thank you.”  
“Good luck.” She half shouts as I’m running after Draco.  
“Draco!” He can clearly hear me but is stubbornly ignoring me. “Draco, wait please. Draco!” I catch up and attempt to grab his arm to turn him but he flings it out of my grip and turns with a look of murder.   
“Don’t you dare touch me!” He turns back around and carries on towards the floo. People turn to look and start whispering.   
“Draco please. I was just in shock.” He turns around again and is quietly hissing so nobody can overhear.  
“In shock?! You don’t think I was ‘in shock’?! You told me you were going to be there for me and then …” He can't finish the sentence and just deflates. “I’m going home Harry. Don’t call.” He attempts to get into the fireplace but I block him.  
“I’m sorry Draco. I didn’t mean anything by it, I just didn’t know what to say. Please don’t block me out. This is my baby as well, I have a right to know what’s happening.” Clearly that was the wrong thing to say because Draco’s eyes turn to thunderstorms and he pushes me aside.  
“Fuck you Harry Potter, oh sorry I mean Saviour.” He sneers at me and goes through the floo without me.  
2 days later and I’m lying on my couch drinking a bottle of fire whiskey. I don’t know what time it is and I don’t care to find out. Draco locked his floo and warded me from entering the manor. He won't answer any of my calls or texts or even owls. I may have lost him for good this time, so the only thing left to do is drink. I can hear a banging and distant shouting but I ignore it and turn the wireless up. Next thing, I hear the front door fly open and bang against the wall. Ron and Hermione run round the corner and skid to a halt. I just look at them and take another sip from the bottle.  
“What. The. Fuck?!” Ron says deadly calm. “Harry? We have been trying to call you and get through the floo for 2 days? You haven’t been to work, you haven’t seen Teddy, you didn’t even go to mums yesterday. We finally come around thinking you're dead and have to blow your front door off its hinges just to get it, and you're sitting here drinking?!” He throws his hands up and looks at Hermione. “I can’t deal with this right now. I need to get back to work. ‘Mione just… just-“ He shakes his head at me and throws his arm out and then just leaves.  
Hermione continues to stare at me for a few more minutes before coming over and taking the bottle out of my hands.  
“Hermioneee, I drinking tha.” I say drunkenly.  
“Harry James Potter. How dare you let me worry like that. How dare you!” She throws a pillow at my face and disappears only to reappear with a glass of water and a potion. She shoves them at me and I sit up just to get away.  
“Drink it Harry! Now!”  
“No! I-I don’t wanna feel.” I shove the water away.  
“What? Harry what’s happened? Please just take it and then talk to me.” I give in and take the sobering potion, while nearly throwing up. “Good, now go get a shower. I’ll clean up and then you're going to tell me what the hell happened.” I do as I’m told just because I can't be bothered arguing. I have no energy and I just want to sleep.  
While I’m in the shower, the potion works fully and I start to remember everything properly. I didn’t think I had any more tears but I’m crying again now. What am i going to do? Draco won't even talk to me. He hates me, and he’s having my baby. A fucking baby. I’m just standing under the water crying when I hear a knock at the door.   
“Harry are you okay? Are you crying?” Hermione asks from behind the door. I wipe my face and answer her.  
“I’m fine ‘mione. I'll be out in a second.” I don’t even know how long I’ve been standing here. I turn the water off and start to dry myself but I don’t even have the energy for that so it takes me some time to dry and dress.   
As I’m coming downstairs, I can smell something cooking. I don’t know when i last had something to eat but I wasn’t about to start now otherwise i would throw up. I come into the kitchen and Hermione’s plating up sausage and egg. Well if I was going to eat, I’m certainly not now. That was the last thing I cooked for Draco. I start crying again and sit down with my head in my hands.  
“Harry? Please tell me what’s wrong, is it Draco?” She asks quietly and I sob a bit louder at the use of his name out loud. She rubs my back soothingly and shushs me.  
“What happened?” Should I tell her? Can I tell her? Would Draco mind? But Draco isn’t here and I need Hermione to help me.  
“Draco’s pregnant.” I sob to her with my head still in my hands.  
“What?! When did he start taking the potions? Why didn’t you tell me? Wait, why are you upset?” She asks one after another.  
“No potion. Didn’t know. Now he’s left me and won’t talk to me.” I continue to sob.  
“Ohhh.” She says as everything clicks. “Oh Harry I’m sorry. Why did he leave? He can't possibly think it's your fault?”  
I tell her everything then, how Draco’s been ill and what he said before we went to st mungos, how Katie was there. Then I told her what i had said and how idiotic I had been, and how draco had just left and not spoke to me since.   
“Oh Harry. I’m sure it’s just the hormones. It’s a big thing to find out especially if you’re not expecting it and don’t think it’s possibly. I’m sure all he wants is for you to be with him but he’s too stubborn and you know it.” She's probably right. “Stay here, i'll be back in a minute.” She walked out the kitchen and I heard the floo go. I had started picking at the eggs in front of me when I hear the floo go again and then a voice.  
“Hermione! I don’t want to be here!” I would know that voice anywhere.  
“You’re tears say differently!” Hermione tells Draco stubbornly. I get up and rush to the living room. When i see him, he has clearly been crying, i pause. He looks just as bad as me truth be told, but always so beautiful.  
“Dr...Draco.” I eventually get out. He looks at me then and he crumbles. I can tell the exact moment his defences lower and we fall into each other.  
“Harry! I’m so sorry.” He cries into my neck. I distantly hear the floo go again but ignore it.  
“It’s okay Dray. I’m really sorry for what I said and I want to be there for you and support you through this.” I sob back.   
“I know Harry, I was just being stupid.... Can I stay here tonight?”  
“You think I’m gonna let you stay anywhere but here for at least the next week?” He chuckles at me and sniffs. We are still wrapped around each other and Draco’s crying into my shoulder.  
“I really am sorry Harry.” He looks up with big eyes and how could I ever stay mad at him, except he’s not to blame. I start to protest when he kisses me. Then he chuckles and says “it must be the wrackspurts causing pregnancy brain.” We laugh together at that and share another kiss.   
“Come on. I think we both need a nap.” I start pulling him to the stairs and he doesn’t hesitate for a second.  
“Why do you smell like a bar by the way?”   
“Yeahhh.. I may have done a bit of drinking while you were gone.” I laugh nervously and shrug my shoulders.  
“Ohh. Merlin I wish I could have.” He chuckles and looks down at his stomach. I start moving towards the stairs again, thinking. We have a lot to discuss tomorrow. And we still have a house to rip out and put back together. I'll worry about that tomorrow though. For now, sleep calls for both of us.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos, they are really appreciated.  
> This chapter carries on from the last chapter.  
> Enjoy X

I wake up from the best sleep I’ve had in awhile, part of the reason why is because Draco has been right next to me all night. I haven’t opened my eyes yet but I can feel his warmth against my side and I can hear his shallow but steady breathing and I can smell the ridiculously expensive shampoo he uses.  
I open my eyes and roll onto my side to look at him. He looks so peaceful and so damn beautiful. He’s on his back with one hand above him under the pillow and the other one resting on his belly. I stare at his stomach for a minute, trying to imagine it in a few months when it’s huge. I’m a little nervous, if I’m honest, about this whole baby thing. But it's happened and I’m sticking with him no matter what. I want to put my hand next to his on his belly but I don’t know if Draco would be okay with it, so I leave it for now and return to look at his face. Only this time, his eyes are open. A blush a bit from being caught staring and give him a long loving kiss.  
“Morning dragon.” I purr to him. He’s the one blushing now and gives a little groan.  
“Morning.” He says from under his hands. I move them away and give him another kiss.  
We kiss and cuddle and stare for a while longer before I ruin the moment  
“Dray...we really need to talk today. Is that okay?”  
“Yes Harry, we really do. We should have talked days ago and I’m sorry for kicking you out of the room.”  
“It’s okay Draco. You’re pregnant, you have an excuse to act out. I had no excuse to act the way I did and I should have been there to support you. I’m sorry.”  
“It’s okay Harry, I understand.” He takes my hand and starts stroking it with his thumb. I think we both know what’s coming next.  
“Why...how...What did Katie say? How did this happen?” I ask him, just to get it out the way. Draco takes a deep breath and licks his lips.  
“She said that it’s very rare but it has happened before in cases involving one or more very powerful wizards.” He looks at me and raises his eyebrow at me. “So this is all your fault really.” He turns back around and gets comfy in the crook of my arm.  
“Draco, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know and-“ He cuts me off with a light slap of my arm that’s on his chest.  
“Don’t be stupid Harry. I was only joking. Of course you didn’t know.”  
“Oh ha right…. so… how far are you?”  
“She said it's about 9 weeks old and about the size of a cherry right now.” He gave the tiniest giggle to that, only noticeable because I felt him laugh against me.  
“Wow.” Is all I can say. I’m amazed and my heart is growing for Draco and this baby every second.  
“Healer Bell wants to see me every 2 weeks and she has me on a bunch of potions. She wants to do some tests the next time I see her just to make sure the cherry’s doing okay. We don’t know if not taking any potions for the first 9 weeks would have done any harm so she wants to be thorough.” He goes a little pale when saying this so I squeeze him close and kiss the top of his head.  
“It’s gonna be fine. What did Katie say about you though? Are you okay?”  
“Yeah I’m fine. She said everything that happened is common symptoms in pregnancy and other than that I look to be in good health.”  
“Good!”  
“Oh and she said we shouldn’t really tell anyone until the 12 week mark has passed, just in case...just in case anything happens.” He hugs up to me then and looks upset. Then I remember something.  
“Ermm Draco, I kinda already told someone.” He freezes and I go on quickly. “It was a total accident, I was still a bit drunk and she asked me what happened and I told her because I tell her everything.” He relaxes a bit then.  
“Oh you mean Hermione. That’s fine because she’s pregnant and she will know not to tell anyone right?”  
“I mean… she should know but if she tells Ron, well he can’t keep a secret to save his life.” Draco groans and throws the covers off us.  
“Right I’m going to speak to Hermione then. And if she’s already told that prat, I’m going to kill you.” He gets up and leaves me lying there cold.  
“Draco, come on. Don’t stress about it. Hermione’s clever enough to not tell him until she asks us.” He turned around and glared at me.  
“If you aren’t down those stairs by the time I get down there, then there will be trouble.” He says and then storms off.  
I hear the bathroom door slam and rush to get up. I throw my dressing gown on because it's always cold in this house, then on second thought I grab Draco’s too. I go to hang it on the bathroom door as I’m passing but pause. I can hear Draco throwing up again. I knock on the door and it clicks open.  
“What?!” He manages to say before he gags and throws up again. He’s sat on the floor with his head practically in the toilet. I wish I could help him with this.  
“Is there anything i can do?” I ask him and place his dressing gown over his shoulders to keep him warm.  
“Healer Bell gave me a potion to calm the morning sickness down a bit, but I left it in my bathroom at the manor. Could-“  
“I'll be right back with it babe.” I interrupt.  
I sprint to the bedroom and throw on some relatively clean trousers and top. Then I apparate straight out and to the manor. He’s opened the wards to me again and I land in his bedroom. I start to head to the bathroom when an elf appears with a pop in front of me.  
“Mr Harry Potter sir. How may I helps you sir?” It asks.  
“I don’t need any help thanks. Draco just sent me to pick up a potion for him.” I go into the bathroom, open the cupboard and stop dead. There are about a hundred different potions in here and I have no clue which one’s for what. “Ermm on second thought, can you help me?” I ask the elf who followed me and is waiting by the door.  
“Of course sir, what can I’s be helping with?”  
“Do you know which potion is for morning sickness?” I ask him while still looking at the bottles, trying to identify anything.  
“That would be this ones sir.” The little elf says and clicks his fingers. A round bottle of yellow liquid floats forward out the cupboard.  
“Thanks! Great, see ya then.”  
“Goodbye Mr Potter sir.” I apparate out straight away and back to grimmauld.  
When I arrive, I can hear voices. I pull my wand out and tiptoe around the corner. They sound like they are in the living room, I hope Draco’s still safe upstairs. When I get closer to the door I can hear the voices properly now. I put my wand away and head into the room with the potion in my hand.  
“You feeling better? I got the potion for you.” I ask Draco and hand him the bottle.  
“Thank you, that was sweet of you. I’m feeling better now but I’m still going to take it just in case.” I smile at him and sit down next to him.  
“Hey Hermione, how are you?” I ask, finally looking around to her.  
“Hello Harry. I’m good thank you, not as bad as Draco with his morning sickness but it comes and goes. I was just telling Draco that I haven’t told a soul yet, not even Ron. I know not to tell anyone yet and i wouldn’t want to tell everyone your secret anyway. That’s for the two of you to share when you're ready.”  
“Thank you Hermione.” I say while giving Draco a look that’s said ‘I told you so’.  
“I’m so excited for you both. I can’t wait to talk about pregnancy with you Draco. It will be nice to have another pregnant person around. Everyone Is treating me like I’m fragile and need looking after, especially Ron. I know he’s just being kind but it’s driving me nuts and we are only on week 15.”  
“Merlin, you're not even showing yet Hermione. How are you 15 weeks pregnant and not showing?” I ask her because surely by 15 weeks you must be showing. How long will I have to wait to see a bump on Draco.  
“The healer said the baby is right at the back so i wont start showing for another few of weeks and she said my bump will be quite small until the end.”  
“Is that normal? Or okay?” I ask just as Draco mumbles ‘lucky for you’. Thankfully Hermione doesn’t hear him.  
We chat for a bit longer and then Hermione says she has to get back to work. We say our goodbyes and she goes through the floo.  
I turn to Draco and glare at him. He just glares straight back and crosses his arms over his chest.  
“What the hell was that?!” I ask him.  
“What?!” He tries to play dumb.  
“You know what! All your snide little comments to Hermione.”  
“She didn’t even hear me.” He says and turns to go into the kitchen.  
“That’s not the point Draco! And you don’t know she didn’t hear you.”  
“Well she should have stopped going on about her perfect pregnancy then!” He turns and shouts at me.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Oh I’m Hermione and I hardly ever get morning sickness, and my bump will always be small so I won’t get big and fat like you, oh and we have baby names picked out already, and we are just perfect.” He says in a voice mimicking Hermione.“Meanwhile I was practically dying and I’m pretty sure I can see a bump already!” He says and pulls his top up. He’s right, there it is. The tiniest bump, unrecognisable if I hadn’t been up close and personal with his stomach a thousand times. I drop to my knees in front of him then and place my hands on either side of his stomach while staring wide eyed.  
“How did I get so lucky with you?” I ask him and then look at his belly again and kiss it right on the tiny bump. I place my head on his stomach and just stay there for a second. Draco finally relaxes and places his hands in my hair.  
“I’m sorry for shouting. It’s these bloody hormones.” He huffs.  
“It’s alright love, I know.” I say gently back. I get up then and look at him. “So, how about we go take some of that anger out on ripping our home apart?” I ask him and he smiles back.  
“Deal.” He says and goes to get his coat.  
We apparate to the house and as soon as we land, Draco pushes away and runs around the house. I go after him to find him being sick near a bush.  
“Dray, are you okay? I thought you took the potion?” I say while rubbing his back. He straightens up then and takes a breath.  
“I did, but it only works some of the time healer Bell said. And she said apparation will definitely cause sickness in very bad cases, apparently like mine. I’m okay through, let's get our home started.” He takes my hand and pulls me into the house this time.  
We go into the first room, which isn’t as bad as some of the house but will absolutely take all day to just clean. So we get started with some spells around the place. When they hardly do anything, we turn to good old fashioned elbow grease. I start with scraping the mouldy wallpaper off the walls and Draco starts with cleaning the windows. We did a couple of spells on them and they don’t need replacing but do need a damn good scrub.  
Draco was better at this than I thought he would be and finished the windows in no time. I get down off the ladder and admire his handwork.  
“Wow, so the prince of Slytherin and only child to a pureblood family knows how to clean. I’m impressed.” I smirk at him. He shoves me playfully.  
“Piss off you prat.” He looks around and then back at me. “Do you want some help with that, you seem to be taking your time.” Now it's his turn to smirk at me.  
“Oh ha ha. No, I don’t want your help. It's too dangerous and for your information I like to take my time to make sure I don’t miss anything. Like you missed that smudge over there.” I point at one of the windows but he didn’t fall for it and just glares me down.  
“What do you mean it’s too dangerous?”  
“Draco, you’re pregnant. Ladders and mould definitely don’t mix well with pregnancy.” He let out his breath and turned around.  
“Fine, you’re right. Now where’s this smudge.”  
After a few hours we have a break for lunch. We decide to go into town and find a cafe. After about 10 minutes wandering around we come across one. It's cream and mint coloured with big windows and little metals tables and chairs outside to eat. There are bright flowers all along the windowsills on both sides of the door. The sign has fancy writing which reads whipped. That got a giggle out of Draco and made us go inside.  
It wasn’t a big place and there were only a couple of people in here but it had a nice atmosphere. We head over to the counter where a lovely looking young black waitress stands. She has a brown Afro with blond tips and she is wearing an apron that says her name, Nia. She looks up as we approach and gives us a huge smile.  
“Hello, I’m nia.” She says in a cheerful voice and points at her name. “Welcome to Whipped, how can I help?”  
“Hi, I’m Harry and this is Draco. We were wondering if you serve hot food here?”  
“Awesome name.” She says and looks at Draco to which he smiles kindly back. “Yes we serve hot food, would you like a couple of menus?” She hands us some menus and we take a seat by the window.  
After a few minutes of chatting and looking at the menus, Nia comes over.  
“Hey, so are you guys new around here or just visiting? Because it would be great to have more gay people around.” Draco widens his eyes at this and looks at her. Oh no, here we go.  
“Excuse me?”  
“Well I don’t know any gay guys around here and I only now one lesbian and she’s my ex. This town is not exactly in the 21st century yet but it's nice enough.” She's very friendly and chatty and I kind of like her.  
“Yes,” I say quickly before Draco can have a go at the poor girl. “We’ve just bought a house a few miles out but it needs renovation before we move in.”  
“Oh you mean the old apple orchard? I heard that was up for sale but I didn’t know anyone brave enough to buy it.”  
“Yes well that’s my boyfriend, brave and stupid.” He glares at me and smirks a bit.  
“Aww you guys are cute. Anyway, what can I get you?” We told her our orders and she walked off to go make them.  
“She seems nice.” I say to Draco. He just hmms to that and stares out the window. I open my mouth to say something but he interrupts.  
“I didn’t know it was an apple orchard, is there still apple trees there?” He looks like he’s thinking about something so I just answer him.  
“Ermm I don’t actually know. We haven’t really looked around the fields yet.”  
“No we haven’t. Maybe we should do that when we get back. It would be nice to grow our own apples, don’t you think?”  
“Yeah definitely.”  
We chatted some more and ate our lunch that Nia brought over. I drank my coffee and Draco had freshly squeezed orange juice, only after informing me that he wasn’t allowed caffeine while pregnant. We finish and I go to the counter to pay our bill.  
“All done?” Nia asks  
“Yes, thank you it was lovely.” She tells me how much and I pay her, then add some money to the tip jar.  
“Thanks! Will I be seeing you two again?” She asks as I’m turning to go.  
“Yes, probably. Thank you again.” I go get Draco and we leave with a wave to Nia.  
Soon enough we were back at the house and as promised we took a walk around the fields to see if we could find any apple trees left standing. The first field we looked in was the one with the stables in. It was just a bare field with overgrown grass and four shaky looking stables. The next field was a lot bigger and had a few trees here and there but no apple trees.  
We must have been walking around for 45 minutes at least when we got to our last field. It was surrounded by hedges and the entrance was slightly overgrown. We had to duck and dive to get through, but we made it. This field looked the worst, with grass up to our thighs and trees overgrown. There looked to be some sort of building over the other side, so we trekked over there to take a look. As we were getting close, Draco grabbed my hand and I turned round to see his widened eyes and smile.  
“Look!” He pointed to just beside the barn type building and there it was. An apple tree. It looked quite young and only had a few apples growing on it but it was still an apple tree.  
“Great! When we are closer to moving in, we can come back and move it closer to the house. It will be our apple tree, that our children can pick apples off and we can show them how to cook apple pie.” I smiled at the picture of it in my head.  
“That sounds lovely.” Draco said and gave me a quick kiss. “Now let's see what’s in this creepy building.”  
We walked to the big barn doors and opened them rather easily. It did just look like an old dusty barn inside. There was a rusted tractor to one side and some stalls to keep livestock one the other side.  
“Stay down here, I’m gonna see what’s up there. I don’t want you going up there and the thing caving in.” I said and moved towards the rickety ladder.  
“Are you calling me fat!” He backhandedly slapped my arm.  
“No! It’s more likely to happen to me, you know, with all this muscle.” I joked and winked at him. I could tell he was trying not to laugh and so he turned round and crossed his arms.  
“Oh go and get yourself injured. Maybe your muscles will save you.”  
As I started to climb, the ladder creaked which made Draco peak around his shoulder. Then as I was nearing the top, one of the steps snapped and I would have fallen if Draco hadn’t had his wand ready and a spell on his lips.  
“See, I knew you cared.” I shouted down as my heart was beating from the adrenaline of having nearly fallen.  
“Harry be careful please.” He sounded sincere. “Can you do this another time, there’s probably nothing up there anyway.”  
“I'll be fine, just another minute. We said we were looking around and that's what we're doing.”  
It was dark up here so I cast a lumos and the balcony lit up. I must have made a noise because Draco shouted up.  
“What? What’s up there?”  
“I think someone’s been living here. There’s a makeshift bed and clothes. There’s books and even food and water. It all looks fresh like someone’s just been here.”  
“Right, get down here now. I am not getting stabbed by a looney muggle while you're up there messing about.” He may be using humour but i could tell he was a bit freaked out. I stepped back and must have caught my foot because a sheet moved and revealed a few twigs. I bent down and took the sheet off altogether, and there underneath was a broom, an old looking one but still a broom. Maybe it wasn’t a muggle living here. I really needed to get back to Draco, and fast. Just as I was turning to leave, I saw a little glint of silver. When I looked over I saw a name on a tag. Just one name and a familiar one. Nia.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carrying on, hope you like it. X

I got down the ladder as fast as I could and as soon as I felt Draco’s hand, I apparated us back to the house. We landed and I took a breath while Draco turned green and went to the nearest bush to throw up.  
“What the fuck was that?!” He said when he came back. “I was only joking about the stabbing.”  
“It could have been worse than that Draco, there was a broom up there.” I told him while taking his hand and walking back into the house fast. I started putting the wards up as soon as we were both through the front door. “And there was a name badge. It said Nia.” I relaxed a bit, now I knew we were safe in here.  
“You mean that overly friendly girl from the cafe is a witch?” He looked baffled.  
“I think so. From now on, no coming here by yourself until we’ve sorted this.’’  
“Fine whatever, can we finish this room now.” He said while gesturing to the almost finished room we had started this morning.  
“Okay, but stay close please.” Okay I was being a bit overprotective but I’ve been like this since the war and with the pregnancy so new in my mind, it was in overdrive.   
“Okay.” He said without argument. He must be able to see how worried I am. A muggle is easy to deal with, but a witch is a whole other thing.  
We had almost finished the first room now and only had a last coat of paint to do. We decided to do everything white until we have furniture and know what colours we are going with. I was on the ladder doing the ceiling and Draco was doing wherever he could reach. I could tell Draco was getting tired and bored, so I turned the wireless on that we had brought from home. A weird sisters song came on and I could tell that Draco was dying to sing along. So I started singing (off key of course) in hopes he would join in. He didn’t but he started swaying his hips a bit. I got down off the ladder with my paint brush and pulled him close.   
“Harry...what are you doing?” He blushed and ducked his head embarrassed. I just kept hold of him and kept slow dancing with him. The song wasn’t one for slow dancing but I did my best.  
“Dancing with my beautiful boyfriend, what do you think I’m doing?”  
“Being a dork?” He looked up through his lashes and smirked. Then the song changed to a slow one and I pulled him closer. We both still had our paint brushes in our hands and paint on our clothes but neither of us seemed to care at this moment. After a couple of minutes of listening and swaying together, the song changed again to a faster one. Draco pulled me in for a kiss and whispered in my ear.   
“You’re such a dork.” He then pulled away and swiped the paintbrush along my cheek. I stood still for a minute and looked at him. He was laughing and very clearly in a playful mood.  
“Right that’s it! Come here.” I ran for him but he screamed and scattered. I cornered him and lifted him up over my shoulder. He was laughing and hitting my back playfully.  
“Put me down you oaf!” He shouted in between bouts of laughter.  
“Okay.” I put him down and held his chin as if I was about to kiss him, then ran the brush right down the middle of his face. He screamed and got me again with his brush.   
“You’re so dead!” He said and jumped on my back while smearing his brush all over me.   
When we were both out of breath and both our faces hurt from laughing, we lay down next to each other. We were both covered in paint from head to toe but we didn’t care. We had had so much fun today, just spending time together.  
“Hermione was right you know.” I said to Draco.  
“What was she right about this time?” He half joked.  
“About this house. She said we would spend time together and have fun. I don’t know about you but I’ve had fun.” I looked to my right at his face and smiled at him.  
“Yeah I’ve had fun too. I guess she was right.” He said and kissed me. I kissed him back and things got quite heated. He climbed onto my lap and kissed me deeply. Just as I was about to make a move, his stomach grumbled. I stopped kissing him and looked at his stomach.  
“I think someone’s hungry.” I said jokingly. He groaned and got off me and signed.  
“Yeah guess we are.” He spoke softly while rubbing his belly. It’s weird how quickly we’ve both got used to Draco being pregnant.  
I get up and hold out my hand to help him up. He shoved it away and scowled.  
“I’m not incapable of getting off the floor you know!”  
“I know. I just wanted to help.” He gets up by himself and huffs at me.  
“What shall we do for tea?” He asks me then.  
“I was thinking we could go to Andy’s and see Teddy?” I say it as a question. “I haven’t seen him in a few days and I promised him I’d try everyday to see him.”  
“Sounds good to me.” He smiles at me.  
We apparate to grimmauld to grab a quick shower and change into clean clothes. Then we decide to take the floo from there instead of apparating, just to see how that affects Draco’s sickness. As we come through I look to Draco straight away. He looks pale and like he’s about to throw up again. He runs off, obviously trying to make it to the bathroom. Andy looks at me in concern and Teddy’s eyes are wide.  
“Is cousin Draco poorly?” Teddy asks innocently.  
“Yes, he just got a bit of a poorly stomach at the moment but the healers have said he’s fine.” I tell them both but so that Teddy can understand.  
“I’m glad to hear it went okay.” Andromeda relaxes a bit.  
“I’m gonna see if he’s okay. Are you sure you’re okay to have us over for tea Andy?”  
“Of course Harry, it's no problem.”  
“Thanks.”  
I get to the bathroom and Draco’s already washing his face.  
“You okay babe?”  
“Yeah I’m fine. Floo is better than apparation but still bad.” He half heartedly chuckles. I pull him into a hug.  
“Do you still feel like eating?”  
“Merlin yes! I’m starving.” He says against my shoulder, which makes me chuckle. I take his hand and we make our way to the dining area. Teddy and Andy are already there waiting for us.   
“Oh Draco my dear. Are you okay?” We take our seats and Draco answers her.  
“Yes thank you aunt andromeda. Just a bit of motion sickness.”  
We chat a bit and then Andy calls for Lottie to serve the starter. As we are eating Teddy starts talking.  
“Did you know, uncle Harry and Draco, that today is the 27th of march?” We both look at each other as if to say ‘where’s this going’.  
“Yesss.” We say together.   
“Do you know what that means?” He asks in a sing-song voice.  
“Nooo.” We say again.   
“Well silly’s, it means it is my birthday in 2 weeks!” He practically shouts. We burst out laughing. He’s so clever.  
“No way?! How old are you going to be?” I ask him just so he can tell us.   
“I’m going to be 6 years old!” He points his chin and says proudly. That makes me laugh loudly because he looks just like Draco doing it. Draco glares at me and talks to Teddy ignoring me.   
“Wow you're getting so big now.”  
“I know, I’m this tall now.” He said and stood up to show us how tall he was and put his hand to his forehead. I snort at that and Draco jabs me in the side.  
“Wow.” I say to Teddy while trying not to laugh.   
We all get to talking about what Teddy wants to do for his birthday and other chit chat and finish our tea. Then we go into the sitting area and light the fire. It’s cozy and warm and we’re a family, with one more coming in 7 months or so. That reminds me that I need to ask Draco when the baby is actually due. Me and Andy have a small whiskey each and she offers Draco one.   
“No thank you aunt andromeda, my stomach is still feeling a bit dodgy.” He says making an excuse. We will be able to tell everyone in about 3 weeks, so it will be okay then and we won't have to make excuses.   
Andy glances at me and gives me a funny look that I haven’t seen before. So I glance at Draco and he just smiles. He’s a lot better at telling lies than me, I tend to get fidgety and sweat a bit.   
After I finish my glass, Draco stands up.  
“Right then, we best be going. Come on Harry love. Thank you for having us aunt andromeda, Teddy I’m sure we will see you soon.” He says so quickly I nearly don’t catch it all. I look up at him in question, it's not like Draco to just up and leave. Maybe it’s something to do with the baby. I better go just in case.  
“Uncle Harry, can I come to your new house tomorrow? I promise I'll be helpful.” Teddy holds on to my hand and pleads.  
“Aww little cub, you can’t at the moment. We have… sort of a..” I’m so shit at lying.  
“We have a termite problem Teddy. But as soon as we have cleared them out, you are welcome to come.” Draco says for me. He talks so easily, I’m grateful one of us can.  
We say our goodbyes and head back through the floo. And as expected Draco rushes to the bathroom. I head to the bathroom and stand in the doorway and cross my arms.  
“So, a termite problem ey?” I smirk at him. I catch his lips turning up just before he turns back to the toilet and throws up some more.  
“Get out of here.” He says and throws the loo roll at me. I chuckle and roll it back to him.  
“You might need that.” I say and go back downstairs to get him a glass of water out the fridge with lemons in it, just how he likes.  
I get to the bedroom with his glass of water and my plain water. I open the door and Draco is flat on the bed asleep. It looks like he has just fallen face first into the pillows and stayed there. I put our waters down on our different sides of the bed and sit down on the bed to take my shoes off.   
“Heyyy.” I heard next and look over to Draco. He’s on his side with his head propped in his hand. I chuckle and carry on taking my shoes off.  
“Hey.” I get one shoe off and look over my shoulder at him. “What was that all about back there?”  
“I just really wanted you all to myself.” He says in a seductive voice. I get my other shoe off and turn myself around.  
“Oh is that so?” I crawl up to him and he lays on his back.  
“Yes! All. To. My. Self.” With each word he plants a kiss on my face and after he says ‘self’ he licks my face right by my ear.  
The rest goes quite quickly, but not too quickly, and we are both on our backs sweating and trying to catch our breath.  
“What...what brought that on?” I ask him through breaths. He rolls his eyes.  
“Stupid hormones.” He huffs. I roll over and kiss his cheek.  
“I wouldn’t exactly call them stupid.” He slaps me and I chuckle.  
After a couple minutes silence and me on my side staring, he looks at me.  
“What?” He looks embarrassed but I can’t help but stare.  
“you’re beautiful.”   
“Ehhh you’re so soppy. My slytherin blood can’t take it.” He huffs at me but I can tell he’s joking and I know he loves it when I’m soppy. I change the subject anyway.  
“Hey, you never told me, when’s this little one due?” I ask and rub his stomach.  
“Healer Bell said October 21st, but the little cherry could be born before or after.” He places his hand next to mine on his stomach and smiles at it.   
“You gotta stop calling it that.” I say but love it really.  
“Well we don’t know if it’s a boy or girl yet, so it's little cherry for now.” He says stubbornly  
“Okay.” Is all I say.  
“Pushover.” He says under his breath which makes me laugh. “Healer bell said we can find out the sex when I’m about 18 weeks gone, but…”  
“But what?” I sit up and look at him.  
“Well I was thinking, maybe we could keep it a surprise? I haven’t definitely decided that’s what I want to do, but I was thinking it would be nice. But if you don’t want-“  
“Draco, it sounds lovely. Whatever you want love. We can decide when the time comes yeah?”  
“Yeah.” He agrees.   
We both sleep peacefully that night.  
The next morning we are eating breakfast at the kitchen table (no sausages) and chatting a bit, then Draco turns to me.  
“Harry? What the hell are we going to do about...the termites.”  
“Her name is Nia, and I don’t know. I think we should try to speak to her when she’s working. That way she won’t expect us to bring up magic and she won’t be able to draw her wand in front of muggles. Not that i think she will draw her wand but..” I let the sentence end there. Draco knows the sort of people I’ve had to put up with in the past being an auror. One minute they can be nice as pie and the next they're trying to kill you with an avada kedavra . “I don’t think she’s there for us though.” I say next. “Her stuff seemed old and it looked like she had been there a while. She has sort of made herself at home I think.”  
“Well, we’ll speak to her then. And see what she’s up to.” I roll my eyes.  
“Not everyone has an ulterior motive oh great slytherin.” Draco snorts and gets up.  
“Yes well it’s always good to be prepared and prove you wrong at the same time. Now, I’m going to get a shower and get ready to redecorate more of our lovely home.” He says on his way out, then stops at the door and looks over his shoulder flirtingly. “You’re welcome to join me in the shower oh great Gryffindor.” He says the last bit just to get back at me, then walks off. Well I’m certainly not going to say no to that.   
About an hour later we are both ready to leave.   
“Do you wanna floo or apparate?” I ask Draco.  
“I don’t trust that floo at the new house yet. I want a professional to check it out, not just you randomly sticking your head in it.” He tells me with a glare. So yeah, I kind of told him by accident I had used the floo. It slipped out, but now he wants me to owl a ‘professional’ before we use it again. “So Apparation it is. Let’s go sort our little pest problem out.”  
“She isn’t a pest Draco.”  
“Well we don’t want her there so she kind of is. Do you know what this reminds me of?” He asks me and then carries on without expecting an answer. “That time you had to look after that bloody cat of Hermione’s! Now that was a pest.” He’s laughing now and I think back to that 2 weeks I had crookshanks. I could have killed that bloody cat.  
“I won’t disagree with you there.” I say and take his hand while he’s still laughing. He won’t be laughing soon, he’ll probably be being sick in about 5 seconds. 5....4….3….2….1. And off we go.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set in the past.   
> Enjoy X

“Merlin Hermione, do I have to?” I moaned to the women in question.   
“I mean you don’t have to, but it would be a great help to me.” She grabbed my hand and fluttered her eyelashes at me. Sometimes she acted like a slytherin when she wanted to. I huff and stare at her.  
“But that cat fucking hates me!” She slaps my hand then, probably for the swearing and the fact I said her cat hates me.  
“Pleaseee Harry. He doesn’t hate you, he just likes acting up for you specifically. You’re the only person I trust to look after crookshanks. Besides, Draco loves him, so just let him stay over and help.”  
“It’s our 1 year anniversary of being together next week though, and I don’t really want that cat anywhere near this house then. And Draco can’t exactly stay here for 2 whole weeks, he has to go back to the manor at some point.” I tell her, because Draco doesn’t like leaving his mother alone for too long.   
“Yeah and it’s mine and Ron’s 4th anniversary. That’s why I want to get away for 2 weeks. We are hardly ever alone and this would be a big help please Harry.” She was right about her and Ron never getting any time alone. With both of them working busy jobs and so much family about, it would be nice for them to go away.  
“Fine, but don’t say I never do anything for you.” I crossed my arms and looked at her. She jumped up and down clapping her hands then. She looked so young and energetic. Not like she had been through a war and been working hard in the ministry for the past 4 years. I couldn’t help but smile with her.  
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Harry you’re the best.” She wrapped her arms around me, as much as she could, with auror training I had grown up a bit lately, and squeezed me half to death.  
“Yeah yeah.” I said when she finally released me. “When’s the fur ball coming anyway?” I ask her, already dreading the answer.   
“We are leaving tomorrow night, so I’ll bring him about 2 o clock.”   
“Tomorrow?! You waited until the last day to ask me to look after the cat?” She was heading towards the floo now, slowly backing away from the conversations.   
“Well I must be off now, got to go pack.”  
“Hermione, what aren’t you telling me.” She stopped, huffed and gave in to me.  
“Fine well, it’s just that you weren’t exactly our first choice to look after him.” I stared at her in disbelief, she was such a snake sometimes but I still loved her.  
“Well how many other people did you ask?”  
“All of them Harry! Me and Ron asked everyone we knew. We asked George and Angelina, we asked Neville, Luna, Ginny, my parents, Ron's parents, we even asked dean. They were either busy, allergic to cats, or just wouldn't put up with him.”  
“You asked everyone else before me! And then you did that bit about you only trust me! Why?” I ask her a bit hurt by it now. Did she really not trust me with looking after a cat? What about when they had children? Would she not ask me to look after them either.  
“Just because we know he isn’t very well behaved for you Harry. And we didn’t really want to put the responsibility on you either. We knew you and Draco had your anniversary coming up, and didn’t want to stress you out.” She looks at me with big eyes, and I could tell she wasn’t lying. They really did this in my best interest. I give her a quick hug then.  
“It's alright Hermione, we will be fine. You go and relax a bit in Greece. I’ll look after crookshanks and everything will go swimmingly.”  
“Thank you so much Harry. You really are a good man and I’m glad you and Draco are still happy together. You two are really good for each other.” She kisses my cheek and grabs the floo powder. “I’ll be back tomorrow with crookshanks and I’ll go through his diet and routine with you then. Thanks again Harry, love you.”  
“Okay Hermione, no problem. Love you too. And bring Ron tomorrow.” I shout as she’s swirling through the green flames. It would be nice to say goodbye to him before he went away for 2 weeks and left me with all the casework and his girlfriend's cat.  
The following day Hermione shows up at exactly 2 o clock, she is always very punctual. Ron is with her and he’s carrying a pet carrier in his right and a bag in his left and with a cat litter tray tucked under his left arm. I can tell as soon as crookshanks knows where he is because he starts jumping around in his carrier. Hermione shushes him and comes over to me with some paper in her hands.  
“Hey Harry, where do you want these?” Ron asks before Hermione can start talking.  
“Just dump them anywhere Ron.” At that, Hermione gives me a stern look so I sigh and I add, “and you can let the cat out.”   
“Right Harry, here I have his diet,” she hands me one piece of paper. “This is the things he’s allergic to,” she hands me another piece. “This is his exercise regimen, he needs at least 2 walks a day.” She hands me another piece of paper. “And finally, this is the things he likes to play with, and things he will try to play with but shouldn’t.” She hands me the last 2 pieces of paper and goes over to help Ron get crookshanks out of the carrier. I look at the pieces of paper in my hand and go speechless. Did she say I had to walk the bloody cat?! No way was that happening. I look over and she’s hugging the damn thing, he really only likes Hermione and he puts up with Ron because Hermione loves him.   
“Goodbye crookshanks, be good for Harry.” She kisses him on the head and he purrs, then she walks over and holds him out to me. I look at him and he seems to be daring me to touch him, the big ginger hairball of evil he is. I reach out and he pounces on me. He digs his claws into my arm and makes his way to my shoulder where he sits and makes no move to get down. He then licks the side of my face with his razor blade feeling tongue. Hermione awwws at it and scratches behind his ear to which he purrs, then she ruffles my hair.  
“See he likes you, I think this will be good bonding for the both of you.” Ron’s behind her trying not to laugh at me.  
“Yeah good luck mate.” He says and snorts.  
“Thanks Harry, anyway we must be going now. Be good crookshanks, see you both in 2 weeks.”  
“Yeah bye crookshanks.” Ron chuckles to himself and Hermione smacks him and pushes him towards the floo.  
“Bye guys! Have a lovely time! And don’t worry, the cat will be fine.” I go to stroke him to prove he’s okay but he swipes his claws at my hand. I laugh nervously and wave Ron and Hermione off.  
As soon as they are gone, crookshanks leaps off my shoulder and starts chewing one of the pillows on the sofa.  
“Yep, this is going to be great fun.”  
5 hours later. It has only been 5 fucking hours and this cat has destroyed my living room. He has put at least one hole in every pillow, he has brought the curtains down trying to climb up them, he attacked the fireplace and got soot everywhere, he’s smashed at least 3 things, and he is currently trying to dig through the sofa. Ive text Draco multiple times for help but he must be busy at work. I just can’t get crookshanks to stop, he won’t listen to me. I am definitely not letting him out of this room though. I've set up his litter tray and tried reading the pages Hermione gave me but he pounced on them like they were prey and ate them!   
Just then the floo roared to life and I had to grab crookshanks to stop him racing into it. I was on the floor on my stomach with crookshanks in my hands, which were bloody by now, when I looked up and saw Draco.  
“Oh thank merlin!” I said and bangs my head on the floor while letting go of the devil cat.  
“Harry! What the hell happened in here?” Draco asked, a bit hysterical. I kept my head on the floo and just pointed to the cat. “Why is crookshanks here? And why has he destroyed your living room?”  
“Because Hermione and Ron have gone to Greece for their 4 year anniversary and asked me to have crookshanks. And as to why he’s destroyed the place, well he hates me.” I look at him now and sulk. He offers me his hand and I gladly take it. He helps me up and I wince a bit from all the scratches on my hands.   
“God he really has taken it out on you huh?” Draco said, flipping my hands over and studying them.  
“You can say that again.” He pulls a sarcastic sad face and then smirks and pulls me close. Just as he’s about to kiss me, crookshanks meows at my leg and I jump slightly. “Errr stupid cat!” Draco laughs and gives me a quick kiss.  
“Come on grumpy bum. Let’s get some ointment on them hands. Crookshanks sit.” The bloody cat listened and sat straight away. “Now stay. Good crookshanks.” I just stared in disbelief. As we slipped through the door I turned to Draco and hissed.  
“He is not a good boy!”  
“No but you are.” He scratches my head in mockery and I pull away from him.  
“Draco don’t! What the fuck am I going to do for 2 weeks with him. He’s been here 5 minutes. How am I going to go to work tomorrow and leave him in my house.” We get to the bathroom and Draco starts looking for the right ointment.   
It's a big plus having a potions expert as your boyfriend. I always have my cupboard filled with things I might need and he always knows what to use, I wouldn't have a clue.   
“He will be fine alone, he seems to only terrorise you when you're around.”  
“Oh great so I’ll be working hard all day and then come home to a usually peaceful house, just to be greeted by that pest.” Draco chuckled and shook his head at that.   
“You are so dramatic.” He kisses me on the cheek. “I still love you though. And you are very kind to help Hermione by looking after crookshanks. They don’t get a lot of time to themselves nowadays.” He was putting the ointment on now but looked far away.  
“Hey, are you okay?” I stopped him and lifted his chin. He smiled and looked back down.  
“Yeah I’m fine.” He says and then after a minute starts speaking. “Merlin Harry, a whole year. Me and you, who would have guessed?” I look down at him while he’s sorting my injuries once again. I've come back from work multiple times and had to have Draco’s help with injuries. I look at him with love and think back to when that look used to be hate.  
“Not me, that’s for sure… but I am so so so glad you are in my life, like this, now Draco. I love you so much. I don’t care what anyone thinks and I don’t care that we were on different sides of the war. I don’t care that we constantly tried to kill each other.” I chuckle at this and he’s looking up at me now. “I don’t care about the past, just our future.” I learn down and softly kiss him.  
“Me to.” He says. It's so simple and strange because Draco’s usually the one for words but that just says it all.   
He finished off my hands and we head back down.   
“Surely Hermione gave you a schedule for him?” Draco asks as we peek our heads around the door, to see crookshanks curled up sleeping exactly where Draco told him to stay.  
“She did.”  
“So where is it?”   
“He ate it.” I tell him with a raised eyebrow. He can’t convince me that this cat is a good boy. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. I smirk at him and pull him towards the kitchen. “Tea?”  
“How about something stronger?” He says back. “I think we are going to need it.”  
“Good thinking.” I pull down two glasses from the cupboard and Draco gets the alcohol. He has to bend down to find it and I swear he’s showing off his arse on purpose. Then he wiggles it a bit and looks over his shoulder.  
“Nice view Harry?” He says sarcastically and turns back to get the bottle.  
“Very nice.” I go over and smack his arse playfully. He squeals a bit, clearly surprised at my forwardness. He stands back up holding a bottle of Ogden’s old firewhiskey.  
“Nice choice.” I say and take the bottle to pour the drinks.  
“Well i know my man, and I know what he needs.” He says in a low seductive voice and strokes his hand across my jaw. He reminds me a bit of a cat and at this moment I don’t want to think of cats, so I move my face away and pass him his glass.   
As soon as we have both taken our first sip, we hear a crashing noise coming from the living room.  
“Goddammit! That stupid fucking cat!” I slam my drink down on the counter and head to the living room. As soon as I open the door, crookshanks shoots past me. I try to grab him but he expertly avoids me and runs around Draco and up the stairs.  
“Get him!” I shout too late.  
“Wow, that cat is very clever.” Draco just stands there staring.  
“You say that every time you see him.” I say, slightly annoyed now.  
“Yeah well, he keeps surprising me with his brilliance. I must ask Hermione where she got him.” He said out loud but was clearly speaking to himself. He still had his drink in hand and wandered into the living room.  
“Oh no you don’t! You are not getting one of those...those things! No way!” I tell him before he can think too much into it and make his mind up.  
I look between the stairs and the living room and just decide to give up. I grab my drink out the kitchen and follow Draco’s lead of making myself comfy on what’s left of the sofa.   
“Where’s the cat?” He asks me, although I know by the way he looks that he isn’t that bothered.   
“Don’t know, don’t care. I’m sure I’ll find him in the morning under a pile of broken things.” I lie down and put my head on Draco’s lap. He automatically starts messing with my hair.  
“Hmm, don’t you mean a nest of broken things, and on top. That cat is king of any castle.” I agree and we both chuckle.  
The rest of the night is spent relaxing on the sofa just the two of us without a care in the world about what crookshanks was destroying.   
2 weeks later when Hermione and Ron come to collect crookshanks, Draco is here and holding him thankfully. We all say our hellos and Hermione takes crookshanks straight away.  
“Hello. How have you been my baby? Has Harry been looking after you?” She says to the cat in a baby voice. The second question was clearly aimed at me though.  
“Yes Hermione, Draco helped.” She gives Draco a smile at that.  
“Thank you, did your anniversary go as planned?” Me and Draco look at each other and try not to remember. It wasn’t awful, shall we say but it did not go as planned. While looking at each other we sort of agree to not tell anyone what happened.  
“Yes great.” I say at the same time Draco says, “it was lovely.”  
“How was the holiday anyway.” I ask them both. Ron was very red and sunburnt. He looked in a lot of pain actually. Hermione had tanned very well but she probably put sun cream on unlike Ron.  
“Oh Harry it was beautiful! The sea was so blue and the beaches so white. We went snorkelling and hiking and fruit picking and we saw some amazing things. We even saw some endangered magical beast’s that Luna had told us about. And we got to spend so much time together, it was amazing and so romantic wasn’t it Ron?” She looked at her boyfriend lovingly and he seemed to melt in her eyes.  
“It was. I’d love to do it again.” He said and went around the back of her and hugged her.   
“Harry, you should take Draco somewhere.” Hermione said then. Me and Draco both froze then. We hadn’t talked about going away together and I didn’t particularly like the hot weather that Greece is known for. I’d go to somewhere like Italy or France when it wasn’t too hot, didn’t Draco’s mother own a villa in France? We’d have to discuss it anyway. And thanks to Hermione we would have to discuss it soon.   
“Yeahhh.” I say and rub the back of my neck. “Anyway, I’m glad your home safe, are you stopping for a cup of tea?” I ask to change the subject.  
“Can’t mate, still got to unpack and my mum wants us over for tea. You and Draco are welcome to join too.” Ron says and grabs the bag of cat things.  
“Thank you but my mother is expecting me. Harry is free though.” Draco says. He still hasn’t been to the burrow once. Molly has invited him a hundred times but he always makes an excuse.  
“Yeah I’ll be there.” I eye Draco up and then turn and say goodbye to Ron and Hermione. Then I get down low and glare at crookshanks in his carrier.  
“See you next time devil cat.” I whisper to him. He got on a bit better after that first day but not by a lot. That cat will always be an evil genius and a pest.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is back in the present. Hope you like it. X

After we arrived at the new house, Draco was of course sick after the apparation, we got started on the next room in the house. The next room was the dining room. It wasn’t as big as the living room and I imagine we would only be able to fit a table and chairs and a couple of cabinets in, but what else did a dining room need anyway. We would probably only eat in here if we had guests and would put a small table in the kitchen for everyday.   
At the moment the dining room was empty and the floors were missing as well as one wall. The whole of the right side of the walls had been completely knocked down and then just left. There was a window missing and covered up with cardboard while the rest just needed a good clean. We could probably fix the wall and floor with magic but we’d have to buy a replacement window and then put it in with magic. The rest we would have to hand clean the same as the other room.   
We worked together to get the floor fixed first. It was more difficult than we thought it would be and hence took longer than expecting. By the time we had finished it was almost lunch time, which meant it was nearly time to talk to Nia.   
“Phew, let's leave it there for now and take a slow walk to town.” I said to Draco, just as he was about to start with the wall.  
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m feeling a bit depleted.” He said and wiped his brow. Then he signed and sat down on the newly placed floor.   
“You okay?” I ask him, a bit worried.  
“Yeah I just need a minute.” He looked up and saw that I wasn’t buying his bullshit. “Healer Bell just said that the baby is taking a lot of my magic, and that if I do a lot then I will feel tired. But it’s fine honestly, stop worrying.” He got up then and did a sort of half bow. “See, completely fine now.” And kissed my cheek. “Come on.”  
We dusted ourselves off a bit and put our coats on, it was still quite cold only being March. We set off walking to town but really we only strolled. Draco had worried me a bit now and I was trying to think of ways I could stop him doing any more magic on the house and just do the cleaning. While I was thinking, Draco looked over at me and rolled his eyes while signing.  
“Would you stop thinking so loud.” I look at him and raise my eyebrow. Then I decide to just go for it and ask him.  
“Dray, what would it take for me to get you to not use any more heavy magic on the housework?” He stops then and glares at me.  
“Nothing, because I’m not going to stop. Healer Bell said it’s fine to use magic. She said I’ll feel a bit tired but that’s all. It won’t harm me or the baby. Besides, this is my house as well so I want to help. Together remember.” He carried on walking and I caught up to him and caught his arm in mine and held on.  
“You’re right sorry. You and Katie know best, you just worried me a bit. But you are right and this should be together.” He kissed my cheek lightly.  
“God you are SUCH a pushover since this whole baby thing.” He said with a scowl but I knew he was just playing so I laughed.  
“Finally got me where you want me then?” I laughed some more and he made a surprised laugh sort of noise.  
“Hmm maybe I have.” We walked the rest of the way mostly in comfortable silence still holding onto each other.   
When we got to the cafe, I opened the door for Draco to go in first. To which he just laughed and shoved me through. We sat at the same table we sat at last time by the window. I looked over and saw Nia chatting with another customer. Good, she was here and by the way she was smiling at us she didn’t have a clue we were on to her. After the customer had left Nia came over to us.  
“Hey guys! Good to see you again. How’s things going with your new house?” She said with a big smile. She really did seem like a nice girl but you could never be sure with anyone.  
“Hey Nia. They're going good so far thank you. We had a look around the rest of the land yesterday and saw some interesting things.” Draco said to her. At that she twitched her eyes and looked a bit nervous, I could only tell because I’d been trained to see things like that in the aurors. I kicked Draco gently under the table and gave him warning eyes. I cleared my throat and chuckled.  
“Yeah, we had a quick look around to see what we got stuck with haha.” She chuckled with me now but still looked a bit nervous.   
“So what can I get you guys today then?” She changes the subject.  
We give her our order and she wanders over to the kitchen.   
“Can you not be so slytherin for once in your life?” I ask Draco as soon as Nia is out of earshot.   
“But baby, I thought you liked that about me?” He does his flirty evil grin and rubs his foot with mine under the table. Then he carries on, “Anyway, did you see how nervous she got?”  
“Yeah I did see that.” I say slowly and take another look at Nia. She had told the cook what to make and was now making our drinks herself. Draco had discovered decaf tea on the menu so had ordered that but I just went with my normal coffee.  
Throughout our lunch we both kept glancing at Nia, who had no clue and when she caught us she would just smile and wave or put the thumbs up.  
When we had finished, Nia came to collect our plates. But before she could pick anything up, Draco spoke.  
“Nia darling, would you sit with us a minute?” He asked in his nicest voice.  
“Ermm, I have other customers.” She said and looked round at the two other tables that were occupied.  
“Please. This will only take a minute.” He insists. She nods and takes a seat next to me and opposite Draco.  
“So, is everything okay?” She asked, she has started sweating a little now.  
“We just wanted to ask you a few questions Nia.” I say in my polite but firm auror voice.  
“What’s this about?” She tries to get up but Draco whispers the sticking spell so she’s stuck to the chair, and I whisper a muffliato charm so nobody can hear us. “Hey! What is this?!” She says clearly frightened. She shouldn't be frightened, it’s just a sticking charm, any witch or wizard knows it.   
“Nia, we know you’re a witch.” I say calmly to her.  
“Yes and that you are living in our barn!” Draco says this less calmly.  
“A witch?! No I’m not. But yes I’m living in the old barn, I’m sorry. I've got nowhere else to go.” She was almost in tears now and still struggling in her seat. Me and Draco look at one another confused.  
“We saw your broom in the barn.” I tell her.  
“That was my dad's broom. He was magic. But he sent me away with it and an old chest and never came back.” She was crying now. “Please don’t hurt me.”  
“Nia we aren’t going to hurt you.” I tell her in a soft voice and put my hand on her shoulder, but she flinched so I moved it away.  
“Are you going to kill me, like they probably killed my parents?” This was getting out of hand, we needed to get her out of here.  
“Nia I need you to tell your boss that you are unwell and going home, tell them that you will be back in tomorrow as normal. And then you are going to come with us to our new house and calm down and tell us everything. Okay?” She hiccuped and sniffs but nodded.  
“Okay, Draco is going to let you up now but you have to promise not to run.”  
“Yes okay I promise, i'll tell my boss and then i'll come with you.” Draco lets her up and she goes behind the counter. A minute later she is back with her bag in hand.  
When we get back to the house we go into the living room. It's the only room that’s clean and the big bay windows bring in lots of light. Nia sits on the window seat and Draco sits in the middle of the floor facing Nia. I just stay standing.  
“So, how did you end up in the barn Nia?”  
“It’s a long story, but I’m willing to tell you if you have the time.”  
“Yes of course we do.” I tell her, because we do. Me and Draco are both off work for a couple of weeks and we don’t need to be anywhere. Nia signs and looks out the window.  
“It was the summer between primary school and high school that I found out about my dad. I had gotten a letter from a place called Hogwarts telling me I could go there and learn magic and spells just like my father had. Things had always happened for untold reasons growing up, like things changing colours and things floating like bubbles. So as soon as I read ‘magic’ in that letter, I believed and knew it was true. When I asked him about it, he sat me down and told me I was never going to be a part of that world. He told me it was evil and that magic killed people. He told me I was innocent and pure minded and they would corrupt that. He said he left because he found my mum and he was grateful for the opportunity to get out. He ripped my letter up and that was that. He never spoke of it again….neither of us did. I went to a normal high school after the summer ended and things stopped happening by accident. Then when I was 12 bad things were happening around the country. Crazy things were happening all over and I was pretty sure it was magic even though the government had their excuses. One night I was woken up by what sounded like thunder and looked like lightning. I love thunderstorms so I sat up in bed but before I could open my curtains, my dad came rushing in and slammed the door. He had a stick in his hand and said something at the door. I didn’t understand it though. He looked crazy, and he was telling me they were here for him. He had to make a choice, he said. But he wasn’t going to go dark, he told me. He couldn’t do that. He told me he was sending me away, some place they couldn’t find me and that I would be safe there. As long as I stayed there and stayed hidden, they didn’t know about me. He started packing some of my things in my backpack and told me to get changed and pack what I wanted. So I started packing another bag. He pulled something out his pocket and said something else with his stick. The thing in his hand started growing and he placed it on the floor. It was a heavy looking trunk, the kind they had in the olden days. He sat me on it and passed me a carrier bag of what looked like food and my backpack. I had the bag that I had packed in one hand, the carrier bag in the other and the backpack on my shoulder. Then he got down and looked me in the eye. He said ‘I’m sending you to a safe place. Stay there until I come find you. You’ll have food and water to last a few weeks and your birth certificate and passport are in that trunk. Keep these things safe and stay hidden. My trunk has everything you need to stay safe if I don’t make it back. Me and your mother love you so much’. Then he kissed me and pointed his stick at me. I tried to shout and grab out but suddenly it felt like I was being pulled apart and put back together. And then I was somewhere else. That barn in fact, and I’ve been there ever since. But something happened when my dad sent me away. I landed and looked down to a small puddle of blood forming. My arm looked like it had been sliced open multiple times. I fainted and when I woke up, it was scared over.”   
When she had finished she was still looking out the window but I could see her tears in the reflection. She turned around and pulled the sleeve of her jacket off to reveal big splinch scars, a bit like Rons. Her own magic must have been fighting her dad’s when he apparated her and so she got splinched. How she healed though, I don’t know. She must have been very powerful even then to do it herself without even knowing how.   
“How many years ago was this Nia?” Draco said rather kindly.  
“About 6 years ago.” She said in a small voice. I look at Draco and we both know what that means. The war was 6 years ago, which means it was probably snatchers that were after her father, and he was most definitely dead, her mother too probably for just being a muggle.   
“Nia I’m so sorry you had to go through that. But I think we can explain what happened. You see, 6 years ago there was a big war in the wizarding world. The biggest anyone had seen….” me and Draco each take turns telling Nia about the war and everything that happened. After we had finished Nia stood up and spoke quietly.   
“I need to be alone.” And left, presumably to go back to the barn. Draco got up and went to go after her but I held him back.  
“Just give her some time alone. It’s a lot to take in.” He nodded and we both sat down on the window seat and stayed there in silence for a while.   
We had both silently decided not to do anymore to the house today. We weren’t in the mood anymore. Everything Nia had told us was awful, of the things she had gone through being so young. And everything we had had to relive to tell her about the war just seeped the happiness out of the house. I looked at my watch and it was 4:20pm, then I looked over to Draco.  
“Hey,” I put my hand on his shoulder and unlike Nia, he doesn’t shake it off. “We have time to take Teddy to the flower park, if you're up for it?” He brightened noticeably at that, I know he loves coming to the park with us when he has a chance.  
“Definitely.” He says and we head out. I write Nia a little note on the door before we leave, just in case she wants to talk. I tell her we will be back tomorrow and would love to see her again. I don’t know if she will see it or even if she will still be here in the morning but I hope she is.  
We get to Andy’s, and Teddy is as excited as ever to see us. He’s practically jumping off the walls when we tell him we can take him to the park today. His hair is changing all sorts of colours and he’s jumping up and down clapping. Andromeda silently mouths a ‘thank you’ to us and goes to get his coat. When he’s calmed down a bit his hair stops changing colour and goes back to the blue he likes so much, thanks to Ginny and Luna.   
“Hey cub, you know you can’t have hair that colour when we are around muggles.” He sulks a bit but his hair slowly changes to a white blonde the same as Draco’s. Draco turns to me and smirks. “That’s because you told him no.” He whispers to me. I shove him playfully and take his hand and Teddy’s.  
“Let’s go.” The park is in walking distance so we decide to walk today, mainly so Draco doesn’t throw up in a bush if we apparate there. Teddy is happily talking our ears off the whole way there and we just listen best we can and talk when he lets us. About half way there he decides to swap hands and now he can hold both our hands and be in the middle. I look down at him and his blonde hair and then at Draco and his blonde hair, and smile. This is what having our own will look like and it looks and feels great. Draco sees me staring and clicks on to why, he smiles back happily. This will be us very soon with our own, and we couldn’t be happier.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carrying on. Hope everyone’s doing okay. Enjoy. X

After 2 hours at the park with Teddy and Draco we are finally back at ours. Andromeda offered to have us over for tea but she’s been having us over so much lately that we felt rather bad. So we decided to come back to grimmauld and spend some time relaxing. Which meant sitting on the sofa, watching soaps, and eating junk food.   
We got in and both plonked ourselves down on the couch and sighed out of exhaustion.  
“This has been a long day.” Draco huffed and leaned his head onto my shoulder.   
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Take out for tea?” I said after a minute, because I know neither of us can be bothered cooking.  
“Yeah. What are you thinking? Chinese? Chippy? Indian...”   
“Hmm.” I think about it and pick the remote up to turn the tv on. “I was thinkin-“   
Just then, the floo roared to life and Ron popped his head through.   
“Hey guys, you’re late. Everyone’s waiting…. you forgot didn’t you?” He said after taking one look at us. Me and Draco look at one another and sighed again because we did forget and we also knew we had to go. Molly had invited everyone round for tea today and we had promised we would be there. We had made that promise about 2 weeks ago though, and with all this house stuff, and baby stuff...and Nia stuff, i guess we just forgot.  
“Be there in 5 Ron. Sorry.” He nods and retreats back into the chaos behind him and then he’s gone.   
“Come on then, we best be going. I can’t believe we forgot.” I hit my hand against my forehead.  
“Why do you have to have such a big family? I feel like I’m seeing them everywhere I turn.”  
“Well you better get used to it because in 7 months there will be one more.” I remind him and move to get up off the couch. He stops me with a hand on my elbow. I look over to him and he’s got a warm smile on his face.  
“I know, and I’m glad. This little cherry is a happy little accident.” He says in a quiet voice while smiling and rubbing his right hand over his stomach. I lean over and kiss his stomach and then I kiss his mouth.  
“Yes it is.” I say to him.   
We stepped through the floo together and Draco goes a little green but manages to keep it down for now. I was worried he would throw up and cause suspicion.   
I look around and it’s like we landed in a war zone. There were kids running around, babies crying, Molly shouting, Ron and Ginny fighting, and Arthur was messing with the volume of the new muggle tv I got him for Christmas. Same old same old then. It was like this at every family dinner, especially if EVERYONE was invited.   
Molly spotted us and forced her way over.  
“Harry!” She put her arms wide and waited for me to walk into them to give me a hug. “And Draco dear.” She touched his cheek and gave him a hug too. “So good to see the two of you.” She pushed us together then and eyed us up. She always did this to make sure we weren’t too skinny. She’s not been able to tell me I’m too skinny since starting at the aurors though. But she still tells Draco every time. “Yes, so good!” She seemed to stop at Draco’s midsection and didn’t say anything about how skinny he was which made me slightly nervous. So I moved us over to the rest of the family.  
Percy's daughter Molly, who’s 3, and Bill's daughter Dominique, also 3, raced past and shouted hello. Bill’s other children, victoire (5 years old) and louis (just 1), were on the carpet together. Victoire was trying to get Louis to walk over to her, but he was more interested in the colours on the rag rug carpet. He had started taking a few steps at a time lately so Victoire was more interested than ever.   
George came up to us then to say hello with 2 year old Fred on his shoulders. The little boy was giggling and holding on to his dad's forehead. Angelina shouted over to be careful with her son but George just rolled his eyes and carried on wiggling his shoulders and making his son giggle.   
Ginny and Luna waved over from where they were now cuddled up on one of the sofas listening to Arthur explain about the tv for the 100th time.   
We said hello to Percy and his wife Audrey after that and their baby girl Lucy, who was just 10 months. Then Draco surprised me and held out his hands.  
“May I hold her please Audrey?” He asked and Audrey was more than grateful by the looks of it because she handed her straight over.  
“Oh please do, I've needed the loo for the last half an hour.” Draco just chuckled and held the baby close on his hip.  
“Shall we sit?” I said to Draco and led him over to the sofa in the corner of the room. It was an old but comfy sofa and as soon as you sat down, you would instantly slide into the middle. So me, Draco and baby Lucy were all squished in together. She was sat on Draco’s knee facing us and laughing at the funny faces he was making. He really was good with kids and I’ve never really noticed before.  
Not long after, she yawned and decided she was tired. So she lent forward to put her head on Draco’s belly and was almost instantly asleep. I looked at Draco and his eyes looked red rimmed as if he was about to cry.  
“Dray, you okay?” I whisper to him and move his hair out his eyes.  
“Yeah. It’s just these stupid hormones are going crazy. It doesn’t help with a baby sat on my knee.” He starts crying then and I don’t know what to do. He never cries in front of people, what if they work out he’s pregnant, or think I've upset him.   
As if by magic, Hermione comes around the corner just then. She sees Draco crying and me panicking and rushes over.  
“What’s wrong?” She says in a hushed voice, so not to attract people’s attention or wake the baby.  
“She fell asleep on my belly.” Draco cries to her. Realisation dawns on her as she roots through her pockets.  
“Ahhh, is this the first baby you’ve held since finding out?” We both nod at her and she pulls a tissue from her pocket. “That happened to me too.” She wipes Draco’s tears away and hands him the tissue. “Now, give Lucy to Harry and go make yourself presentable. Nobody will know.” Draco hands me Lucy, Thanks Hermione, and leaves the room. I take a deep breath and relax.   
“Thanks Hermione, where have you been anyway?” She sits down and now we’re squished together, but just like with Draco, it’s comfortable. She puts her head on my shoulder and looks at the sleeping baby tucked in my arm.  
“Helping cook in the kitchen. Have you seen Ron by any chance?”  
“Thinking about it no, I haven’t seen him since he was arguing with Ginny when we came in.” She looks over to Ginny but Rons not there so she just shrugs and yawns. Then falls into silence as the rest of the house is loud.   
She shoots awake when my phone goes off in my pocket. Unfortunately so does Lucy, but fortunately Audrey gets back at that minute and takes over.   
“Thanks Harry.” She says and goes back over to Percy. I take my phone out and it’s a text from Draco. ‘Come to the bathroom NOW’. Hermione read over my shoulder and I turn to look at her. She shoos me along and off I go to find Draco wondering what’s up with him.   
I get to the bathroom and tap gently on the door.  
“Draco? Are you in there?” The door opens and I slip inside. I close the door and turn around, only to find Draco a mess on the floor. He’s curled up leaning against the wall and sobbing.   
“Draco?! What’s wrong? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” I ask him in quick succession. He just nods though and keeps crying. I get down on my knees in front of him and put my hand on his shoulder. “Dray?”  
He mumbles something then but it’s too incoherent to understand.   
“What?”  
“I said, I can’t stop crying.” He said between sobs, much louder this time.  
“Why? What’s wrong?” I sit next to him now and he turns to lean on me.  
“I don’t know. Just holding Lucy has brought all these questions to my mind.” He’s calmed down enough now to sound normal ish but he is still crying.  
“Questions like what?”  
“Like… like what if we never get to meet the baby? What if the little cherry dies before their born? What if I do something to harm it? Or what if it’s born and then gets taken away from us?” Saying these things out loud has made him go worse again and he’s almost hysterical now. But now he’s said them, I’m thinking about them. What if we never get to hold our baby like we held Lucy. I can feel wetness on my cheeks and know I’m crying now too.   
“That won’t happen Draco. We can’t think like that, we have to be positive.” I tell him while trying to convince myself as well.   
“But what if Harry?”   
“Then we will get through it together.” I tell him and hug him close.  
“Do I even deserve to be this happy with you Harry, after everything I did?” He asks with his head down against my neck. I lift him up then and speak to his face.   
“Draco, you had no choice in the things you did. The war was awful for everyone, but we were just scared children. Bad decisions were made by both bad and good people, but it worked out in the end. And now we are here and we are happy.” I held his face between my hands and smiled at him with happy tears in my eyes now. He nodded and kissed one of my palms. “Now let's get that face washed and get back out there.”  
“Okay.” He smiles and we both stand up.  
With his face clean and acting as if nothing has happened, we make our way back to the living room. I see Ron then, he’s sitting with Hermione now, where me and Draco and Lucy were sat not 15 minutes ago. He waves at us and we wave back. Just as we were about to go over though, Molly comes out the kitchen and announces the food is ready. Everyone gets up and the parents scoop up their children.   
Everyone’s in the kitchen now and a few tantrums are taking place, not just between children. Molly II is crying and saying Dominique pushed her over. It's not unlike Molly to cry, and it's not unlike Dominique to be a bit rough. So Dominique is told to say sorry which she doesn’t want to. Bill, who’s dealing with it, looks at Hermione and says “are you sure you want this ‘mione?” Everyone gives a chuckle at that, Draco and Hermione’s chuckles sound partially nervous though.   
“Course she’s ready. So many wrackspurts wouldn't be around if she wasn’t. Infact there are an incredibly high number today. If I was to guess, I would say someone else is pregnant too.” Luna says in her sing song voice with her colourful glasses on. Me and Draco share a quick nervous glance but keep our heads down. Then Ginny rolls her eyes and pushes Luna towards the table.   
Charlie looks like he’s arguing with Ron, whose ears are turning red.   
And as we get sat down Louis starts angry babbling. He wants victoire to sit next to him and can’t see her past fleur. But fleur tells him no so he throws his head back and balls his hands into fists. Most everyone’s ignoring this and talking to whoever is next to them. But I like to watch this big, lovable, angry family. My family. I look to Draco then, who is talking quietly to Hermione, probably about what happened in the bathroom.   
“You alright mate?” Ron says next to me and gives me a jab with his elbow. I didn’t even see him sit there but I’m glad he did.   
“Yeah fine, just…. happy.” I tell him while looking at Draco.  
“Yeah me to mate, me to.” And he’s most probably looking at Hermione. Though knowing Ron he could also be looking at the food.  
“How did we get here Ron? From being hunted down by Voldemort, to surviving and having family’s.” I’m still staring at Draco and don’t realise what I’ve said.  
“We didn’t all survive though.” Ron says. I turn to look at him quickly and he’s looking at Hermione like I thought he would be.   
“Ron, I’m so sorry. It just slipped out and I was really talking about you and me. But I shouldn’t-“ he puts his hand on my shoulder and stops me.  
“I know what you meant Harry, it's okay….Fred would have loved this.”  
“Yeah he really would have.”  
Near the end of the meal I’m looking at Draco again. Ron sees me and snorts.  
“Merlin, you really do love him don’t you.” It wasn’t really a question but I answer anyway.  
“Yeah, I really, really do.”  
“Remember when he wouldn't even come to these dinners? And now look at him. One of the family.” I look at Ron looking at Draco and Hermione, and smile at him. That really surprised me coming from Ron. He was always supportive towards me and Draco but I think this is the first time he’s called him family. I will definitely be remembering this moment for a long long time.   
“Yeah, he is.” I say back to Ron and smile at my whole family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos! They are very appreciated! Love you all. X


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s another chapter. Hope you like it! X

It’s been 2 months since mine and Draco’s anniversary of a year together, and 2 months since we had the devil cat over to stay, which means Draco has been in my life now for 14 months. Yet he still hasn’t been to any of the family meals at the burrow. Molly and Arthur have been inviting him since practically the beginning, but he always squirms his way out of them. He always has work to do or plans he has made or people he has to see. But next week is Ron's birthday, and Molly has planned a birthday party at the burrow and invited everyone, including me and Draco. Draco is friends with Ron now, well as good a friend as they are going to be, so he can't say no to this. I’m going to casually slip it into conversation tonight when I go over to his. I told him I would come over for tea tonight because he always comes to mine, so hopefully he will be in a good mood and say yes. I already talked to Narcissa and she told me that he didn’t have any plans for the date of the party. So he has no excuse to say no really.   
A few hours later I step through his floo.   
“Wow, you’re not late for once. Makes a change.” He smirked at me and finished lighting a couple of candles on the dinner table. The lighting is low and the place looks romantic as hell. He is definitely in a good mood.   
“Right back at you with wow. This place looks great, nice touch with the candles.” I take my coat off and hang it up. As I’m turning around Draco comes up behind me and puts his hands on my hips. He slides up my back and kisses my neck.  
“I wanted to do something nice for you for once.” He says and lines his hips up with mine. He obviously wants to top tonight and I am fine with that. It isn’t often Draco prefers to top but when he does the sex is always great.   
Okay maybe a quick shag and then we can discuss the party. What harm can it do? Besides, this is moving too fast for me to start talking about Ron.   
Draco licks the back of my ear and thrusts his hips forward. I fall forward a bit and save myself on the door, where I’ve just hung my coat.   
“Ahhh yeah, you’re being so nice to me Dray.” By this time, he’s got one hand down my pants and one hand under my T-shirt.  
“Get these clothes off and get in my bed, now.” He tells me in a rough voice. I love it when he gets dominant. So, I do as I’m told and get in his bed naked and hard. He joins me straight away and for the next hour or so neither of us can concentrate on anything but each other.   
When we have showered and dressed, we finally sit down for our tea.   
“This soup tastes lovely babe, you’ll have to ask the house elf’s to give me the recipe.” For starters we have homemade soup, and it’s one of the nicest soups I’ve had in a long time. Not to tell Molly that of course.   
“No need to ask them, I’m the one who made it.” He says and continues eating as if he hasn’t just dropped a bomb shell. I plop my spoon back into the soup and stare at him. He looks up and raises his eyebrow at me. “What? Do I have something on my face?”  
“You made this?! You can cook?” I ask him totally gobsmacked. He dabs his mouth with a napkin while trying not to laugh.  
“Yes, it is a simple butternut squash soup with chilli and crème fraîche.” I continue to stare and he smirks. “It’s nothing, I just wanted to cook for you.” He looks down now and blushes slightly.  
“You cooked for me….that’s...that’s amazing. Thank you love.” I take his hand from across the table and place a kiss on it. He blushes even more now and tries to hide his face. After a minute he pulls his hand back and picks his spoon up.  
“Yes well it won't be nice if it gets cold, so eat up.” He says changing the subject but I’m not buying it this time, it was really sweet of him to do this.  
“Draco..” i say and wait for him to look at me. He does eventually look up and wait for me to say something. “This really was so sweet. Thank you. I love it, and I love you.”   
“Thanks, the elf’s have been teaching me. I asked them to, so I could cook for you. You always do nice things for me so I thought I would do something nice for you this time. I love you too Harry.” He says in a small by meaningful voice, with a tiny genuine smile on his face. He looked so open with me right now and I absolutely loved it and vow to make it happen more often.   
For the main course we had sticky fig lamb cutlets with warm bean and couscous salad. I was practically moaning with every bite it was so good. Draco had done an amazing job and must have been practising for hours on end.   
Then for pudding he had outdone himself and made me a homemade treacle tart. This man, who people still call a death eater and a killer years after the war, has done the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time. It has taken time and energy and lots of practise, but he did it and he did it for me.   
After we have finished our pudding, we sit there a little while. We are both happy and full and loved. He has done such a nice thing for me that I have to invite him to the party now. He has to come and be with my family. It would be so lovely to have them all together.   
Draco’s just about to get up so I take his hand and he settles back down.  
“Draco, Mollys having a party for Ron next week at the Burrow, and it would be amazing if you would join me. Molly has said you’re welcome and I know Ron and Hermione would love to have you there. And your mum said you didn’t have any plans. And well, I would love for you to finally meet everyone.” I shut myself up because Draco has gone very pale, more so than usual, and his hand has started to shake a bit in my hand. “Are you oka-“  
“You spoke to my mother behind my back!” He cuts me off and pulls his hand away. I reel back slightly confused.   
“No, well yes. But not like that. I just asked her if you had anything planned for next Friday so I could invite you to Molly and Arthurs.”  
“But you went behind my back. And anyway, my mother doesn’t know what I have going on. And as a matter of fact I am busy next Friday. So no I won't be joining you.” He gets up and goes over to the drinks cabinet. Why is he making such a fuss about this, and Narcissa swore he had nothing planned. Why was he trying to get out of this?  
“Draco, you're lying.” I say as realisation dawns on me.  
“No I am not. How dare you say I’m lying.” He turns to face me with a hard face, totally closed off and the opposite of before. He’s still shaking slightly but maybe it’s from anger. I stand up to face him too.  
“Then where are you going? And what time? And with who?” I ask him because I know he won’t be able to answer. He may be good at lying but not to me.  
“I...we… that’s none of your business.” He crosses his arms and stands his ground.   
“Well I think it is. I’ve been your boyfriend for over a year, I’ve met your mother multiple times. I’m just asking you to spend a couple of hours with my family, with the other people in my life whom I love. And you are standing there lying to me to get out of it. They are good people and just because they don’t have as much money as you do, and they aren’t as posh as you, it doesn’t mean you can go on pretending they don’t exist!” My voice had slowly started raising and I had ended it nearly shouting. I could feel tears running down my face. I was upset, angry, hurt, and confused. I look at Draco once more for any signs he’s about to change his mind. But he’s just standing there with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. I look down and my tears fall to the floor. I grab my coat and walk towards the floo.  
“Harry…” I hear him whisper but it’s too late, I don’t look back and go through the floo home.  
It’s been exactly a week since me and Draco had that fight and Ron’s party was tomorrow. I hadn’t heard off Draco since and I have just been throwing myself into work. I've not told anyone what happened really, just that me and Draco might be taking a break for a little while. I’m not going to tell them that Draco is embarrassed to be seen with them, it would just make them upset as well as me. And I don’t want to upset them, I love them. Hermione is utterly confused and wants to know what really happened but I just can’t tell her.   
I’ve been a bit down when I haven’t been keeping busy at work. And when I’m working I’m usually angry and end up shouting at someone. Ron has been trying to cheer me up and has been taking me out nearly every night with Hermione, but I just end up zoning out and then all of a sudden I’m in bed crying again.  
It’s fine, I’m fine. I’ll get over it soon enough. Tomorrow is about Ron and I should have been the one taking him out all week, but as usual it’s all about me. Merlin, I’m a shit friend.   
I take another sip of my whiskey and am definitely drunk now but I keep drinking anyway. It has always been Ron and Hermione that have been there for me and had to pick me up when I’ve fallen. I never in a million years would have defeated Voldemort without them. They are so smart and brave and confident. They are such good people. I need to tell them right now, how good they are.  
I stumble over to the phone and ring Ron. After 3 rings Ron answers in a croaky voice.  
“Hello..”  
“Ron! Mate. Did you know? You are such a good friend! And I’m so shit! I’m awful and you should stop being friends with me immediately. But please don’t because I would miss you very much. Okay bye.” I tell him drunkenly and put the phone down on him. Then I ring Hermione.  
“Harry?” She also sounds croaky and I finally look at the clock. Its 3am on Friday morning.  
“Shite!” I say out loud down the phone. “See Hermione, I’m no good at this whole friend thing. I've just woke you and Ron up- ON HIS BIRTHDAY!” I then start singing happy birthday down the phone and I’m crying by the end and drinking from the bottle of whiskey. “Why am I such a terrible person Hermione.” I sob to her. I drop the phone and curl up by the arm of the sofa and sob into my arms.   
Next thing, Hermione and Ron are standing next to me.   
“I didn’t know the time, I’m-im so sorry. I’m so stupid.” I sob my heart out to them. I expect them to look angry but they look sad. Then Hermione sits next to me on the sofa and Ron sits on the floor in front of me. And they just sit there with me while I’m crying. Hermione places her arms around me and leans her head on my shoulder and Ron places a hand on my knee.   
“It’s going to be okay Harry. You won't feel like this forever. And for what it’s worth, you are an amazing friend! You have done more things for me than I can count and you are always there when I need an ear to listen to me.” Hermione says quietly on my shoulder.  
“Yeah mate, I don’t think I would have even made it through school without you! And you literally saved the whole wizarding world from Voldemort Harry! I think you can be cut some slack eh?” Ron says, trying to cheer me up. I cry some more and tell Ron happy birthday again.  
Then I must fall asleep because next thing I’m in bed and it's still dark and I can hear voices next to me. It’s Ron and Hermione, they must have brought me to bed after I passed out. I stay where I am and try to go back to sleep but then I hear what they are saying.  
“-don’t know how much longer he can go on like this.” Ron whispers.  
“He’s broken hearted Ron, imagine if we separated. You’d be a mess too. He just needs time. It’s only been a week, and he loves Draco very much.” Hermione whispers back.  
“I’m going to bloody skin that ferret alive when I find him. I don’t know what he did but it must have been bad for Harry to break things off.”  
“How do you know he broke things off? Did he tell you?” Hermione questions him. I hadn’t told him so how the hell did he know.  
“He’s my best mate ‘mione. We shared a dorm for years. I know him and I know he’s feeling guilty but he’s also sad. The things he said to me down the phone..” he takes a breath. “They were bad ‘mione. He didn’t sound like him at all.”  
“No, that's because he isn’t himself at the moment. He just needs time. Come on, let's leave him to sleep.” They shut the door and I instantly fall back to sleep.   
The next day I wake up at 12. The party is at 4 so I have plenty of time to get ready. I have a banging headache and go get some sobering potion. I take it and then jump straight in the shower.   
Then it hits me like a brick wall. Everything comes back! Draco, the argument, the drinking, calling Ron and Hermione drunk and telling them to not be my friend, them coming over, and eventually putting me to bed.   
I bang my head on the wall of the shower. Fuck! Right that’s it! Today I get my shit together. No more moping about. It’s Ron’s birthday and he deserves better.   
I finish in the shower and get some clean joggers on, I leave my top off for now because I’m quite hot after my shower. I head downstairs to get some breakfast and I notice it’s raining outside. Great, that means a wet and muddle game of quidditch after the party. I think that’s exactly what I need to get me out this rut. I grab some bread and put it in the toaster, then pour myself a glass of orange juice.   
When I’ve finished eating my breakfast I go to head upstairs but the doorbell stops me on the second step. I turn around and head for the door. I open it quickly expecting the mail man or Hermione but the person who stands there has soaking wet blonde hair and a frown on his face.  
“Draco?” I’m shocked he’s here, I don’t even know if this is real but then he speaks.  
“Harry.” I snap back into my mind and scowl at him.  
“Go away!” I go to slam the door in his face but he stops it with his foot.  
“Please Harry. I came to apologise, just hear me out.” I take a breath and stop trying to shut the door. He pushes it open. “Can I come in please? If you didn’t notice, I’m quite wet already.” I want to laugh but won’t give him the satisfaction, I’m still angry and hurt.   
“No.” He sighs but takes a step back.  
“Fine. Harry I know I fucked up, but it wasn’t for the reasons you said.” He looks at me with pleading eyes. There is rain dripping down his face through his eyelashes and down his sharp cheekbones.   
“Oh so you don’t think any less of my family then?” I say sarcastically.  
“Merlin no Harry! I think they are amazing. The things you tell me are great and I’m so glad you had someone there for you to support you through Hogwarts and ever since. I owe them so much just because they loved you and took you in!” He’s almost shouting through the sound of the rain now. I look at him confused.  
“Then what the hell Draco?!” I hadn’t even realised I’d stepped outside until I could feel the rain on my shirtless body.  
Draco looks at me then and rolls his eyes.  
“I really wish you had worn a shirt, you're putting me off.” I huff and turn to go back inside. “No wait Harry please.”  
“Draco, you tell me what it is right now or I will go inside and close this door on you. Forever!” I clarify so he knows I’m being serious.  
“Okay..okay.” He says quietly and looks down. “I...I don’t believe I deserve to be a part of your family Harry.”  
“What do you mean?” I ask him, confused.  
“I don’t deserve it okay?!” He all but shouts at me. “They are such kind people. Don’t you understand. Bill got disfigured because of me Harry! That was my fault! I let the death eater into Hogwarts and Greyback attacked Bill, because I let him in! And Fred died! He died! And everything’s my fault!” He was crying now but all I could do was stare and listen. “Good people died, and they didn’t deserve it! I should have died, but I didn’t. I got to live, while people lost their mothers, sons, brothers, cousins. Everyone lost somebody in that war, and I was on the wrong fucking side. And now… now you ask me to come to dinner with people who should hate me and wish me dead, and you wonder why I decline.” He takes a deep breath, tears still spilling from his eyes, and seems to be finished. I take his face in my hands and make him look at me.  
“You stupid stupid man!” I shout through the rain to him. He opens his mouth to speak but I don’t let him and carry on. “I have told you a million times that what happened in the war was not your fault. Draco, you were a child for fucks sake! You were threatened with your mother and fathers lives! And yes good people died, but that wasn’t your fault. That was Voldemort! He did that, not you. If you hadn’t let them in then he would have found another way and Bill might have died then. But he survived and now he has two beautiful daughters. You couldn’t kill anyone Draco, you're not a killer. And you lost family too. It may have been after the war, but your father wouldn’t have been in Azkaban if it wasn’t for the war, and he wouldn’t have died. So yes, I’ve been asking you to come because everyone has forgiven you Draco, a long time ago. They just want you to join in with our family. Be happy and make me happy, like you were doing.” He was shaking his head but as I went on he had stopped. We both leaned forward and our lips met. It was a slow soft kiss, a kiss full of apologises.  
“I came here to tell you that I will come with you Harry. As long as I’m with you, I don't care what people think. I love you so much.” We kiss again and I drag him inside and up the stairs.  
At 4 o’clock we went to the burrow, together. Everyone was surprised but so welcoming to Draco. He froze when seeing Bill but quickly unfroze when he spotted victoire and Dominique. After half an hour Draco had relaxed a bit and was speaking with ease. He had had a conversation with almost everyone by the time we had finished eating, laughing and joining in like he belonged. He stayed close to me the whole night though and I could tell he was still nervous as hell. We even got him to play seeker for the other team when we decided it was time for quidditch. After not too long he was flying with confidence and racing after the snitch. My team won of course but he tried his hardest. Ron got super pissed after quidditch and told everyone he loved Draco, as a friend of course.   
All in all it was a brilliant day. Molly was ecstatic to have Draco over finally. Everyone welcomed him in. The food was excellent as always. Quidditch was way better with Draco as a seeker. Ron loved his presents. Everyone had a laugh and the past wasn’t mentioned. And Draco Malfoy finally met my family.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s international friendship day here in the uk! So happy celebrations! Hope you like the chapter. Enjoy X

Me and Draco had crashed as soon as we had gotten in last night from the burrow. It had been late and so we had slept in a bit this morning. It was almost 11 by the time we were ready to go to the house. Me and Draco had started calling it our haven. But Draco has been calling it something in French, ‘Notre coeur’. I have no idea what he’s saying but I hope it’s nice.  
Today was going to be another hard day. We still had to finish the dining room and talk to Nia, if she would let us, and get started on the next room. Draco’s feeling quite tired still, so has promised to take it easy today and no heavy magic.  
We apparate there and once again Draco is sick. He comes back over when he's done and looks awful.  
“I’m going to throw my stomach up one of these day.” He says rubbing his belly, he then looks down at it and starts talking. “Please be kinder to me little cherry, you’re killing me here.” I chuckle quietly and get down on my knees. I place my hands over Draco’s and get really close to his belly.  
“Hey little cherry. Your papa isn’t really dying but he would appreciate it if you stopped making him poorly. We both love you very much.” I lift his shirt and kiss his almost flat stomach. Draco smiles down to me and gives me a hand up.  
We get to the front door, that still needs fixing properly, and see that Nia has written on the back on the note I left her. It says ‘meet you here at 4.’ I’m glad she was okay and is willing to speak to us.  
We get going on the dining room again, this time Draco is doing the cleaning while I’m trying to fix the wall with magic. The wireless was on quietly and Draco was chatting to me, but I was too preoccupied with the wall to talk much.  
I finally get the final hole sealed in the wall and step back to admire it.  
“Looks good.” Draco says next to me. I turn around to see how far he’s gotten and I’m pleasantly surprised. The room looks totally clean and he’s started painting already.  
“You work fast.” I tell him while going to pick my own paintbrush up.  
“Yes I do.” He says and winks at me. I laugh and move the ladders so I can start painting the ceiling.  
“Well hurry up and finish that painting, then maybe we can get onto another room before Nia comes round.” He snorts and picks his paintbrush back up.  
We eventually finish painting and the room looks great. We are stood at the door with our arms around each other, imagining the dinners we will have in here. I kiss the top of Draco’s head and turn us around to head to the next room. But we both stop because Nia is stood at the door.  
She was watching us and smiling softly before we turned around and now quickly changed her expression.  
“Oh Nia hey. Are you early?” I ask while checking my watch. It says 3 o’clock though, so she must be.  
“Yeah, sorry. I got out early and decided to come straight over.” She looked apologetic and shy.  
“No problem. We just finished our dinning room and were about to start the next room but we can take a break. Right Draco?”  
“Yeah, I need a drink. Have we brought any peanut butter with us babe?” Draco asks and head over to our bag of supplies. I frown at him then.  
“Draco, you hate peanut butter.” I remind him.  
“Yeah I did, didn’t I. I’m just really craving it.” He keeps looking through the bag, but he wont find any. Then Nia laughs.  
“I actually have a peanut butter sandwich in my bag from work, if you want it?” She roots through her bag and Draco’s darts over.  
“Merlin, yes please.”  
“You’re acting like a pregnant woman.” Nia says then and laughs. Except me and Draco don’t laugh and instead stare at each other. Nia stops laughing and looks at us. “What….” she looks at me and then at Draco. Her eyes wonder down to his stomach and she gasps. “No! Can wizards get pregnant?! Oh my god.” She looks about to cry then, so I start to go over to her to calm her down. Then she launches herself at Draco. I freeze and don’t act quick enough. By the time I have my wand out, anything could have happened. I look over and...well she’s hugging him. That’s all. I really need to calm down around Draco, I’m going to kill someone. I quickly put my wand away before Nia see’s it and freaks out.  
“Congrats Draco! God this is weird.” Draco looks terrified and isn’t saying anything.  
“Nia the thing is, Draco’s only 9 weeks pregnant. So we aren’t really supposed to tell anyone yet and-“ then Draco interrupts.  
“10 weeks actually.” He says and I look at him.  
“What?”  
“I’m 10 weeks pregnant today.”  
“My lips are sealed! I won't tell anyone.” Nia says and smiles wide, showing a lot of white beautiful teeth. Nia was a very beautiful girl and didn’t really belong in a small country town like this. I wonder where she grew up?  
“Can I eat my sandwich now?” Draco asks, ruining the moment. Me and Nia just chuckle at him, and she hands him the sandwich.  
We are all sat down in the front room now, Draco having finished his sandwich and me having got everyone a drink.  
“So Nia, you seem a lot better than yesterday. How are you taking it all?” I ask her in a friendly voice. I don’t want her to close up again like yesterday.  
“I’m doing okay. It was a lot to take in but it all made sense so I couldn’t not take it in.” She looks sad again now, but we have to discuss it.  
“So I’m guessing you don’t own a wand?” Draco asks out of nowhere. I frown at him but Nia seems to cheer up at that. Maybe Draco should ask the questions.  
“No but can I get one? Would I have to go to that Hogwarts place?”  
“I don’t really know Nia.” I tell her and look at Draco. “I think it’s time to get back in touch with McGonagall.” He groans but I know he knows I’m right.  
“Nia, how did you survive so long on your own?” I ask her next.  
“Well like my father said, I had enough food and water for a few weeks. It just kept appearing when I was low. Then one day it was just gone. I walked for a bit, in search of any fruit trees or vegetables. Then I saw a sign for town and followed it. I went past the bakers and saw all these fresh loafs. My mouth was watering but I didn’t have money so I carried on. Next thing I know, there is a warm loaf of bread in my hand. It must have been my magic so I quickly put it in my bag. I know it was stealing but I didn’t mean to and I was young and alone and hungry. Every time I went past somewhere with something I needed inside, they would just appear in my hand or bag. Then when I turned 16, I took my passport and got a job at ‘whipped’. I’ve been there 2 years now.”  
“You got lucky.” Draco says to her.  
“Yeah I guess I did.”  
We all finish our drink and I ask Nia more questions. Then I tell Nia we are starting on the next room and she is welcome to stay. She says she wants to help clean and so we all get started on the office room.  
The next week goes pretty much the same. Me and Draco go to the house, or ‘Notre coeur’ as Draco keeps calling it, and work on the house until lunch. Then we go to ‘whipped’ and have our lunch. At 4 o’clock Nia joins us and helps clean. Around tea time we send Nia on her way back to the barn and lock up. We go to Andy’s most nights for tea but one night we went to Molly’s and one night we spent at mine. Then suddenly it’s Friday and Draco is 11 weeks pregnant. The next scan is tomorrow and I can’t wait. We get to see what the little cherry looks like this week Draco said.  
We’ve just got in from another jam packed day at the house and then we took Teddy to the park.  
“Merlin, I’m exhausted.” Draco says and lies down on the sofa. I lift his feet up and sit down, placing them in my lap.  
“Same.” I close my eyes and lean my head back.  
With Draco not doing any heavy magic, it’s taken it out of me this week. Maybe I should get some help, but then they would ask why Draco isn’t doing it. After next week we can tell people though so I can ask for help then.  
“You still need to speak to McGonagall.” Draco says in a tired voice.  
“Mmmhhh.” Is all I manage back. I had put it off so far because I hadn’t spoken to her in a while and I felt kind of guilty. But it needed to be done. I’ll do it tomorrow after our appointment.  
We both must fall asleep then because next thing I know it’s pitch black outside and Draco is snoring softly.  
“Babe...come on. Let's go to bed.” I nudge him, but he doesn’t wake up. I sigh and smile at him. Bloody lazy fool. I get up slowly without waking him up and then pick him up gently. He gives a little intake of breath and then huffs it out and wraps his arms around me.  
“Love you.” He whispers, still half asleep.  
“I love you to Dray.”  
I get him in bed and jump in the other side. I’m back asleep in minutes with Draco next to me.  
The next morning we are getting ready for our appointment which is at 11:15. We only have half an hour and Draco’s only just got out of the shower.  
“Finally!” I throw my hands up. “You know I need a shower too, right?” I ask him sarcastically.  
“Well you were welcome to join me anytime.” He says with a smirk. He has a towel wrapped around his waist and one in his hair. He has water dripping down him and looks so hot-  
I snap out of it and grab my towel.  
“We don’t have time for that.” I shout through the closing bathroom door.  
25 minutes later we are sat in a waiting room in st mungos. There are a few pregnant witches around us and we are getting a few stares. Maybe I should suggest waiting somewhere else next time.  
A nurse comes around the corner then and looks at her clipboard.  
“Mr malfoy?” Draco stands up then. “If you’d like to follow me, healer Bell is ready to see you.” They both start walking away and I just sit there. Draco hasn’t asked me to come with him and I haven’t asked to be in there today, so I should just wait here.  
Draco’s turns around then, noticing my absence.  
“Harry…” we get a few more stares now he’s said my name. “What are you doing?”  
“Well you didn’t say anything … so..” I say quietly, looking down at my hands.  
“Come on.” He comes back and takes my hand, pulling me along.  
The nurse leaves us at the door and we walk in, hand in hand.  
“Ahh Draco, and Harry! Good to see you’re back.” She winks at me. I chuckle at her.  
“Yeah, I did some apologising.” I squeeze Draco’s hand and we take our seats.  
“So did I.” Draco smiles.  
“Good. Now, how have you been doing since I saw you Draco?”  
“Well I’ve been okay I guess.” He shrugs. I guess he’s still nervous around Katie.  
“He’s been tired constantly. Any magic is draining him. He’s eating weird things. And he’s still always throwing up.” I tell her for him but he just frowns at me.  
“If you don’t want kicking out again, then I suggest you shut up!”  
“Draco it's quite alright. I need to know these things if I’m to be your healer for the duration of your pregnancy.” She says, calming him down. “These are all very common side effects of pregnancy I’m afraid. You just seem to be getting everything at once and double the strength. The tiredness is connected to the magic making you feel drained. The baby is using a lot of your magic because you don’t have a natural womb. Just try to get as much sleep as possible and take naps. Your cravings are natural and there’s nothing I can do about that.” She smirks at me and then carries on. “I’m a bit concerned you’re still throwing up a lot. I had put you on a high dosage of your potion already. I’ll do a few spells and tests, see how things are, and maybe up the dosage. Then you can see a scan.” She smiles and gets up. “Draco, do you want to take a seat on the bed for me please.”  
He lies down on the bed and I come to stand next to him. He grabs my hand and is nearly crushing it.  
“You okay?” I whisper to him while Katie is busy. He shakes his head and is breathing deeply. Not bad enough to panic but I’m still worried. “Calm down, I’m here. What’s wrong?” He looks at me with pleading eyes.  
“She said she’s concerned. What if something’s wrong?” He looks about to cry so I bend down and kiss his cheek.  
“Everything’s fine Dragon. Calm down.” I whisper in his ear. He blushes and is so concentrated on the name that he forgets he’s panicking. Then Katie comes around the bed and his eyes go wide again and he squeezes my hand.  
“You alright Draco?” Katie asks, looking a bit concerned herself now. She goes to do a spell and Draco jumps up.  
“NO! Don’t touch me!” He shouts from where he’s crowded in the corner. Me and Katie look at each other with horror and rush to get up.  
“Draco, she’s not going to hurt you. She just wants to check the baby.”  
“No! She’s going to tell me cherry’s dead! I know she is, because that’s what I deserve!” Draco has gone backwards with his progress of blaming himself since the pregnancy and it’s starting to worry me.  
“No Draco. By the sounds of all your symptoms, the...cherry?...is okay. So just lie down on the bed and let me check.” Katie says calmly.  
“Harry…” he cries and I hug him close.  
“It’s okay. I told you, remember, together.” I feel him nod against my shoulder and help him up and onto the bed.  
“Okay good. You can close your eyes if it helps Draco.” Katie says and Draco nods and closes his eyes while holding my hand for dear life.  
Katie does a few spells and takes some notes. Then she smiles at me and says another spell. Suddenly there is this 3D scan sort of thing floating above Draco’s stomach. My hands go slack in Draco’s and I stare in disbelief. Draco opens his eyes because I've let go, and gasps.  
“I’ll leave you guys alone for a minute.” Katie whispers and slips out. I barely even notice. All my attention is on this tiny big headed thing, that is actually my baby. This thing is going to be alive and kicking in 6 months and I’m going to be a father. I think it's just actually hitting me now, seeing it. I’m crying now and I don’t think Draco ever stopped.  
“Merlin Harry...look.” He says between sobs. I kiss him and wipe my eyes.  
“That’s our baby.” I say back.  
Katie comes back in after a minute. She smiles at us and sits back down.  
“Would you like a picture copy?” She asks softly. We both just nod while still staring, it keeps twitching and it is amazing. The image fades and we hold each other’s hands again.  
“So at 11 weeks you might feel a bit hungrier. You will start showing, which I see you already have.” He really has started to show properly now, it’s quite noticeable. I don’t know how longs he’s going to be able to hide this. “You will still be tired, probably through the pregnancy. But your sickness should at least reduce in the next couple of weeks, which is good news. Do you have any questions?”  
“Can we tell people next week?” Draco asks.  
“I would say you can tell people now. Everything looks healthy and according to plan. But don’t feel pressured to tell anyone as soon as now. You can wait and maybe enjoy it.” He looks at me and we both silently agree the sooner we tell people the better.  
“Thanks you healer Bell, and I’m sorry about before.”  
“Don’t worry about it Draco. It happens more than you think. Being pregnant is very stressful and worrying, but just try to relax. You don’t need to worry unless I tell you to, okay?” He nods and gets up. “Here are your pictures, I got you one each and an extra one just in case you decide to tell someone.”  
“Thanks Katie.”  
“No problem Harry. I’ll see you both in 2 weeks.” We are at the door now and I remember something.  
“Oh Katie, I almost forgot, is there somewhere private we can wait next time?”  
“Merlin, sorry Harry, Draco. I didn’t even think. Of course, I’ll get something sorted.” We say our goodbye and off we go.  
Draco has stopped being sick going through the floo now, so when we land back at grimmauld I don’t expect him to go running. But he does. I follow him up the stairs and to the bathroom.  
“You okay Dray?” I ask him softly at the door.  
“Yeah, I think all the stress of the appointment just got to me a bit.” He says, coming back out and holding his stomach. I give him a quick kiss and we head downstairs.  
“So, who shall we tell first?” I smirk at him.  
“Nobody! I've changed my mind. It will be too stressful.” He says and sits down on the couch.  
“Draco… I kind of want to tell people. Can we at least tell Ron? It's not fair he doesn’t know. And you can tell pansy and Blaise if you want.”  
“No, I don’t want.” He crosses his arms and glares at me. I get down on my knees in front of him and uncross his arms so I can take his hands.  
“Draco, what’s this about? You looked excited about it at mungos.” He sighs and looks down at our joined hands.  
“I’m not brave like you Harry. I’m scared. I’m so scared that we will lose this. And if we do, I don’t want everyone knowing about it.”  
“But that’s the whole point of family Draco. They are there to support you and help you when life goes wrong.” He looks at me and gives a small smile.  
“Yeah I suppose that's what your family does. Fine, you can tell Ron. But I want to wait till next week to tell everyone else okay?” He pleads to me.  
“Of course babe.” I get up and give him a kiss and then sit next to him on the sofa.  
“You still need to speak with McGonagall.” Draco says to me and smirks. Dammit, I forgot about that.  
“Yeah I know. I was actually thinking of asking her if I could teach Nia. What do you think?”  
“But that will take months, what about your job?” He turns to look at me.  
“Well...I kind of like not working there. I didn’t realise how hard it was on me until I took this break to be with you. And it’s not like we need the money, we both have inheritance money. I was thinking of quitting the aurors actually.” I look away from him then. I don’t know how he’ll take this.  
“Harry… that’s fantastic news! I’m so proud of you.” He turns my head and gives me a long snog.  
“Really? You’re not mad?”  
“Why on earth would I be mad? I was sick of you coming back injured and you were constantly in a mood because your mind was always on one case or another. I love having you home. It might just be me but...well I think we have become closer these last few weeks.” He smiles shyly at me now.  
“Yeah I think we have too, love.” I put one hand on his slightly protruding belly and gave him a kiss. “And I wouldn't change it for the world.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to add two chapters today, so enjoy! X

I decide to deal with McGonagall tomorrow and with Ron tonight. I need to get Ron out the way so I don’t have to worry about it. He has been so supportive of us up to now but I’m just a bit worried that this pregnancy will cause him to explode with everything he hasn’t said so far.  
Molly has invited us over for tea again tonight and we gladly accepted. Cooking is just not on our list of things to do right now. And Ron will be there, so we will try and get Ron and Hermione only at some point and tell him.  
It’s 10 minutes before we have to leave and Draco is in absolute hysterics.  
“YES IT DOES!” He screams at me and throws a lamp across the room towards me.  
“Draco, calm the fuck down! No it doesn’t make you look pregnant. Nobody will know.” I try to calm him down and walk slowly towards him like he’s a wild animal.  
“Oh so I don’t look pregnant, just fat!” I halt there at that, I know this conversation is going down hill now.  
“I never said that! You look beautiful and you can’t even tell a difference.” He seems to calm a bit then and takes a breath.  
“Whatever! Don’t fucking lie to me, lets just get this over with.” I sign and follow him downstairs to the floo.  
As soon as we arrive, Molly comes to greet us. It’s just a small tea today with Molly, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna. Arthur is working late tonight so couldn’t make it, which doesn’t bother Molly as long as she has someone to cook for.  
“Harry, Draco! Glad you boys could make it.” She hugs each of us and then pushes us together and gets a look as usual. She again stops on Draco’s midsection and looks up at him. “Draco honey, I’m going to be telling you to stop eating soon, rather than be eating more. Putting on a little podge I see.” Then she taps his belly. At this point I can practically feel his rage, but he could never shout at Molly. “To many takeaways with Harry maybe?” She questions and chuckles, not knowing what she’s done. Draco shoves me away and then points at me while screaming.  
“You fucking liar!” Then he rushes off through the house.  
“Oh my. Harry I’m sorry dear. I didn’t mean to offend.” Molly looks awfully guilty now which makes me feel bad.  
“Don’t worry about it Molly. Draco’s just in a bad mood tonight. But I wouldn't mention his weight again if I was you.” I tell her and give her another hug.  
Ginny and Luna were sat on the sofa the whole time and watched it unfold.  
“Hey guys.” I wave to them.  
“Hi Harry.” They say back and continue whispering together. I go through to the kitchen to find Hermione cooking.  
“Hey ‘mione, didn’t know you were here yet. Where’s Ron?” I hug her and ask.  
“Got here early so I could help cook. Mollys teaching me all her recipes.” She says with a genuine smile. “Rons out back I think, but I’m not certain.”  
I head outside but don’t see anyone, so I go back in and take a wonder through the house. I open the door to the office and stare. Ron and Draco are both in here, laughing and playing chess.  
“That was a bad move malfoy.” Ron was saying.  
“No it definitely was not. Wait and see.” Then Draco turns and spots me. “Oh Harry! Come watch me beat weasels arse at chess.” I go over to him and sit on the arm of the chair and wrap my arm around his shoulders.  
“You feeling better babe?” I kiss the top of his head.  
“Yes, sorry about that. I will apologise to Molly too before the nights up.”  
“Thank you, I think she feels a bit guilty.”  
20 minutes later and Draco has just beat Ron. I can't believe they haven’t played together before. And I can’t believe Ron lost! Finally!  
“Suck it Weasley!” Draco shouts. Ron just sits there and stares at the board.  
“Wow...good play Malfoy.” He says and shakes Draco’s hand. Maybe he won’t be bothered about the baby thing.  
I’m just about to start the conversation about it, when Molly calls that tea is ready. We all get seated and Draco starts telling everyone that he just beat Ron at wizards chess. They don’t believe him at first but then Ron sticks up for him and confirms it. Molly and Hermione are shocked that someone beat Ron at last, Ginny is shouting loser at Ron across the table and Luna is just staring at Draco.  
The tea comes to an end and I’m thinking of asking Ron for a chat when Draco speaks up.  
“Molly… I would like to apologise for my outburst before. It was childish and mean and I’m very sorry.” He takes her hand while saying this and she smiles at him.  
“Draco dear, I’m the one that should be apologising. It’s good to see you putting on weight and I shouldn’t have made a joke.” She says back to him sincerely.  
Then Luna speaks up. “Yes, you shouldn’t joke. Draco can’t help being pregnant as much as Hermione can, and nobody is joking about her.” Then she carries on messing with the food on her plate, like she hasn’t just told a secret to a room full of people.  
Me, Draco and Hermione all freeze with wide eyes. Molly looks from Luna to Draco to me, then lets go of Draco’s hand. Ginny's eyes go wide and she nudges Luna, who had obviously told her already. Then I look to Ron. He’s looking at me and then Hermione and back again. She looks guilty and I think he knows she knows. He stands up and leaves through the floo.  
“Oh dear, did I say something I wasn’t suppose to? I’m sorry Draco.” I look at Draco and he looks like he’s holding tears back. He stands up and drops his napkin on his plate.  
“Thank you for tea Molly. Goodbye everyone.” And leaves just as Ron did, shouting Malfoy manor.  
“Harry I’m so sorry.” Luna says to me then. I’ve never been angry at Luna before but this is to far.  
“Learn to shut up Luna!” I firmly say and stand up.  
“Don’t speak to her like that! She didn’t know it was a secret!” Ginny stands up to defend Luna.  
“Then you should have told her when she obviously told you!” I say right back. Luna looks near tears too now and I can’t stand this much longer. I storm past them and up to the floo.  
“Harry, wait!” Hermione shouts.  
“What?!” I spit at her.  
“Hey, don’t speak to me like that! I did nothing wrong. I just came to say that I will speak to Ron tonight and you should go be with Draco.” I sigh and look down at my shoes, while leaning against the fireplace.  
“Sorry….this was a fucking disaster.” She comes up to me and rubs my arm.  
“It will be fine, everyone’s emotions are just running high right now but I’ll deal with Ron and you deal with Draco.”  
“Okay. Thanks Hermione.” She gives me a kiss on the cheek and waves me off through the floo.  
I go straight to the manor but Draco has locked me out of his floo so I land in the sitting area. I give Narcissa quite a fright.  
“Oh Harry. Gosh, you scared me.”  
“Sorry Narcissa, Draco locked me out again.”  
“Yes he seemed quite upset about something.” I sit down next to her then and tell her what happened.  
“... So now they all know he’s pregnant and Ron just walked off and Draco’s locked me out.” I tell her, she is awfully quiet so I look up and she looks pale. “Are you okay Narcissa?”  
“Draco’s pregnant?” She says then. Fuck! Oh merlin! Draco is going to kill me, bring me back to life, and fucking kill me again.  
“I...I thought he had told you.” She just shakes her head at that. I put my head in my hands and cursed myself. I’ve really screwed up this time.  
“I won’t tell him I know Harry, I swear it. I will wait until he tells me, I know how stressful this can be on both parties. I have no cause to create more stress for you and my son. But…. well, congratulations.”  
“Thank you Narcissa.” I hug her close and then get up. I really need to get to Draco now.  
When I get to his door, it’s shut but unlocked. I open it slowly and look around but Draco isn’t there. I go to his bedroom door and this ones locked, he must be in there. I unlock it with an easy alohomora and slowly step inside.  
Draco is on his front on his bed, sobbing his heart out. I go up to the bed and slowly place my hand on his back. He jumps slightly and looks to see who it is. I think he is expecting his mother though because he quickly turns back around and shouts into the pillow.  
“Go away Harry!” I stroke his back gently up and down.  
“I’m not going anywhere.” I prove my point by getting into bed next to him.  
“I want to be alone.” He continues crying.  
“You don’t get that privilege anymore Dragon.” He turns back around and shoves a pillow at me.  
“Don’t call me that! And don’t come in here and pretend everything is fine! Because it's not okay?!” He says glaring at me.  
“I know babe, but like I said, family is there to support and help you. I’m your family Dray, and your mine. And I kind of need you too right now.” I tell him and my eyes start watering. He softens on me and curls up next to me with his head on my chest.  
“I’m sorry. I’m here Harry. Me and you, family.” He says while still crying softly.  
“And little cherry.” I remind him with a wet laugh and pull out the moving picture of our baby from the scan. The one I was going to give to Ron and Hermione. Draco takes it and kisses it and then kisses me and curls up tighter.  
“And little cherry.” He confirms and swiftly falls asleep.  
It’s been a hard day for both of us. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  
After breakfast the next morning, I said goodbye to Draco and apparated to the edge of Hogwarts. I had sent McGonagall a message last week saying I would be coming to see her soon, so I just hope she’s free now.  
The gates let me in, and suddenly I’m a teenager again coming back from hogmeads. I always feel the same wonder coming back to Hogwarts, but I don’t get to come as often as I would like. This was my first real home. It was where I first made friends. It was where I found people who cared for me. And it was where I discovered real magic.  
I enter the castle with ease and get some odd stares. Either they think I’m a weird stranger, or they know exactly who I am. As I’m walking towards the stairs, I hear steps approaching.  
“Mr Potter?” I turned around and looked down to see professor flitwick.  
“Hello sir.” I smile at him.  
“Yes, I thought that was you. Not to mention I could hear all the whispers.” He chuckled. “Can I help you?”  
“No that’s okay sir, I’m just here to speak to professor McGonagall.”  
“Does she know youre here?” He asked. I've not realised it but we have started walking up the stairs already.  
“I’m not sure actually sir. I told her I would be popping in, but not specifically today.” I look at him sheepishly.  
“Not to worry Harry. I’m sure she can make time for you.”  
We walk the rest of the way together anyway, and chat about what has been happening since I left school.  
“Well here we are. It was good to see you Mr Potter, you should come visit more often.”  
“And you sir. I will try.” I smile at him. He turns and walks away then, and I turn to the big gargoyle that I visited so much while here.  
I go to say some of the old sweet passwords like sherbet lemon, but change my mind and instead say. “Dumbledore.” And the staircase starts moving. I should have known it would still be that, or maybe she changed it back for me.  
I get to the top and knock on the door.  
“Yes, come in.” I hear her voice say. So I open the door and walk into her office.  
“Hello professor McGonagall.” She looks up when she hears me and her eyes go slightly wide.  
“Harry! Well hello.” She stands up and calls me over.  
“Hello.” I say back, slightly nervous.  
“Don’t you think it’s time that you call me Minerva, Harry?” We sit down together and I chuckle at that.  
“I don’t think it will ever be time for that professor.” She does a little chuckle with me.  
“Very well. Tea?”  
“Please.” I accept and she pours us both a cup and puts some shortbread out.  
“So Harry, what can I do for you?” Straight to the point as usual. I swallow some tea and take a breath.  
“Well, the thing is, me and Draco have come across a lost witch. She’s 18 and doesn’t know a thing.” I proceed to tell her about Nia then. After I’m done I throw back the rest of my tea. “So you see, she wants to learn but she doesn’t exactly trust the wizarding world entirely. But she trusts me, so I was wondering if maybe I could teach her at home. I’m not asking for any wages or anything like that, just some textbooks and equipment and of course your acceptance.”  
“Well…” she crosses her hands together and leans forward. I gulp and prepare for the lecture of why she should come to Hogwarts. “That seems like an excellent plan Harry. And of course the ministry will have to know and so will have to pay you. I will have to tell them before you get any equipment unfortunately but it should only take a week at most. And you will probably have to come here to see me for monthly updates.” She smiles at me. I’m gobsmacked and just blink at her. “Nia seems like a lovely girl. Maybe you can eventually get her to come and be put in a house, just for fun.” She says then. ‘Just for fun’, who is this woman?  
“That sounds great. Thank you professor! Nia will be so happy, and Draco too.” I laugh at how surprised he’s going to be.  
“How is Mr Malfoy? I was so glad to hear about you two, you were always staring at each other.” I go slightly red now and try not to groan and instead laugh nervously.  
“Ermmm yeah, he’s good thank you. I’ll tell him you asked about him.”  
We chat for another 10 minutes and then I get up to leave.  
“Very good seeing you again Harry.”  
“And you professor, I guess I’ll see you in about a week.”  
“Yes, hopefully it won't take longer than that. Take care Potter.”  
I get out of the castle and let the cold wind hit me. It cools me down and allows me to think. I look down the hill and I see Hagrid's hut, there is smoke coming out the chimney so he must be in. Before I can make a decision, my feet have started to walk me towards it. I get there and knock on the door. Fang starts barking immediately and I back up slightly.  
“Who’s that then?” Hagrid shouts and opens the door. He looks down at me, just like I had with flitwick, and a great big smile covers his face.  
“ARRY!’ He says and takes me in a painful hug. “What are you doin here?” He lets me down and then fang comes out.  
“I needed to discuss something with professor McGonagall and I thought I would drop in on you too. Hope that's okay?” I ask him and stroke fang. He’s gotten old and doesn’t jump up at me anymore.  
“O course ‘arry! Come in!”  
An hour later, I was back at grimmauld place. I had sent Draco a patronus back at Hagrids because I couldn’t make him wait.  
I looked at my watch and decide I have plenty of time to tell Nia the good news and continue the house. So I floo to the manor to see if Draco wants to join me.  
He’s sitting on his couch reading when I floo in.  
“Hey baby,” I say and give him a quick kiss while he carries on reading. “Did you get my patronus? I’m going to go tell Nia the good news now. And I’m thinking we could carry on with ‘Notre co…’” damn it, I could never remember this.  
“Notre coeur.” He says with ease, but still is ignoring me for his book.  
“Yeah Notre coeur. Our home.” He just hums at me. A minute of silence passes then he looks up.  
“Harry, why is it that when I told my mother I was pregnant this morning, that she didn’t act all that surprised?” Shit! “You see, when I asked her about it she said she already knew. And when I asked her how, she said she could just tell. But I don’t believe that, so would you like to tell me the truth Harry?”  
“I’m sorry Draco, I really thought you had already told her. I don’t know why we hadn’t spoken of it though.”  
“I knew it!” He slammed his book shut and then did the weirdest thing, he started laughing. “I knew she didn’t just know. And I knew it had to be you.” He laughed again and I joined in this time.  
“I really am sorry though Dray.”  
“It’s fine, at least she knows now.” He says and gets up.  
“You coming then?” I ask him and hold his hand.  
“Of course I’m coming stupid.” He snorts at me and pulls me towards the door. Then speaks in french to me. “C’est notre coeur et notre maison.” I don’t know what he’s saying but he sounds sexy saying it. Then off we go together holding hands.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it. X

We arrive at the house by apparation and it surprises me when Draco doesn’t throw up. We go into the house to find that Nia is finishing things up in the kitchen.  
“Hey Nia! Wow you’ve done a lot of work, you really didn’t have to.” I tell her and put my bag on the counter.  
“I wanted to. You two have done so much for me so I just wanted to help out a bit.” She smiles at us and puts the paintbrush down. “Did everything go okay at the scan yesterday?”  
“Yeah, brilliant. We got a picture if you wanna see?” I ask her and dig into my pocket to find the scan, but it isn’t there. I must have left it in my other coat and the spare one is next to the bed.  
“Here.” Draco says next to me and passes Nia his photo. Good thing one of us remembers things. I smile at him and hug him to my side.  
“Oh my gosh guys!” She squeals and looks about to cry. “Wow, this is amazing.” Then she goes over to Draco and puts her hands out as if she’s about to touch his belly, but he flinches back and she pauses. “Can I see?” She asks him timidly.  
Draco looks at her, then at me and finally lifts his jumper up. And there is it, a very noticeable little bump. “Wow.” Is all Nia can say and then Draco covers back up and walks off.  
“I’m going to start on the music room.” He shouts from the hall. “Harry, tell Nia the good news.” She turns around and her face lights up then.  
“What good news? About the baby?”  
“No.” I chuckle and sit down on the counter. Nia gets the hint and sits with me. “You remember I told you I was going to speak to someone about your schooling?” She nods so I carry on. “Well I went to Hogwarts yesterday and spoke with professor McGonagall. She agreed to let me teach you here….if you want? I mean you can go to Hogwarts if you want-“ she jumps on me with a hug then.  
“Really! Thank you so much Harry. This means so much.” I hug her back then.  
“Your welcome. I think I’ll enjoy teaching again if I’m honest.”  
I tell her everything McGonagall said, about how it could take up to a week, we would have to see her for monthly meetings, and how she can try the hat on if she wants. She wasn’t too keen on that one though but hopefully we will get there.  
“But what about your job? You do have a job right?” She asks me.  
“Yeah I do, I’m on leave at the minute. But I don’t think I’m going back. It’s a lot of stress for Draco as well as me. So from now until you graduate, teaching you is my job.”  
We get down and get to work then, finishing the last bits of painting in the kitchen. As we are finishing up, I hear the piano again. I leave Nia to finish her bit and head to the music room to find Draco. He’s sitting at the piano playing like he’s alone in the whole world. I go up to him and take a seat next to him on the bench. He briefly stops, sees me and carries on.  
“You really are beautiful when you play.” I tell him. He smiles shyly and just continues hitting the right keys. The melody is soft and beautiful and very Draco. I lean my head on his shoulder and close my eyes, just listening to the music.  
“Wow Draco I didn’t know you could play piano!” Nia comes rushing in. Draco gets distracted and hits the wrong key and stops playing. I chuckle to myself and open my eyes.  
“It was nice while it lasted.” I whisper to him and then he chuckles too.  
“It’s like having a child.” He whispers back and we both laugh.  
“Yes, Draco has played since he was a child.”  
“My father made me learn.” He says then and gets up. “Right, let's get to work then.” He changes the subject and accio’s the cleaning things from the other room.  
We all start cleaning as nothing in here actually needs to be magically fixed. Nia is asking all these questions about magic and learning and flying.  
“Will I get a wand like you guys?”  
“Eventually yes, but while you're learning you can use my spare.” I tell her.  
“Will I-“ she’s cut off by the sound of apparation.  
“Harry? Draco?” It’s Hermione.  
“In here ‘mione!” I shout back to her.  
“I thought I’d find you here- oh.” She stops when she sees Nia. “You must be Nia?”  
“Yes hi! Harry talks about you a lot, he says you're very clever and brave.” Nia says with a huge smile on her face. Then she goes over and hugs Hermione. “I would love to listen to you sometime.” Hermione blushes and pats her back awkwardly.  
“Yes sure. I’ve heard a lot about you too.” Nia pulls back then and gets back to cleaning.  
“Good things I hope. Oh and congratulations with the pregnancy! Have you got a scan picture? Harry and Draco have just shown me theirs.” Hermione looks at me with wide eyes then.  
“You’ve got a scan picture?! Show me this instant.” She demands and moves towards me. I just point at Draco and so she heads there instead. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me yesterday.”  
“We had other things on our mind yesterday Hermione.” Draco says and shows her the moving image.  
“Of course sorry. Oh wow, it’s so...so amazing.” Then she starts tearing up. She gets her picture out and shows Draco. Then Draco starts tearing up. Oh boy.  
After about 10 minutes of Draco and Hermione talking, I interrupt.  
“So ‘mione, did you come here for a reason or just to chat?” She jumps up then.  
“Oh right! Sorry Harry. Shall we speak privately?” I nod and we go to the front room.  
“I didn’t manage to speak to Ron last night, he didn’t come home. So I went in search this morning and finally found him at Bill and Fleur’s. He was more angry at me than you Harry.” I look up at her at that and frown. “We promised each other not to lie to one another. He was really upset with me. He was upset with you as well but he understood you couldn’t tell anyone. So we aren’t talking at the moment but you are welcome to go see him.” She sighs and I take her hand.  
“Oh Hermione, I’m so sorry. I’ll speak to him for you and tell him how stupid he’s being.”  
“Don’t worry Harry, if he doesn’t come home tonight he’s going to be in big trouble.” She says determinedly. That our Hermione for you, stubborn and bossy. That’s why we love her.  
We go back to the music room and Hermione joins in helping. By the time we finish it’s 4 o’clock and we call it for the day.  
“Well I’m off, I wonder if he’s back yet?” Hermione says half to herself on her way to the door.  
“Good luck.” I shout to her.  
“Nia, are you okay up in the barn? Do you need anything?” Draco asks her as she too makes her way out.  
“Yeah I’m fine thanks Draco. I don’t need anything at the moment but I’ll let you know. Bye guys.”  
“Bye Nia.” We both say. Then it’s just us.  
“Fancy going to see Andromeda and Teddy?” Draco asks as he’s packing up the last of the things.  
“Yeah sounds great!” I give him a kiss on the cheek and grab my bag.  
“I was actually thinking maybe...maybe we could tell them today? I mean it’s Teddy’s birthday in 2 days so I don’t want to ruin his big day, and with my mother and Mrs Weasley knowing already, she is bound to find out soon. Better to come from us right?” He sounds kind of shy about it but he seems serious about it.  
“Yeah!” I practically shout at him. “Sorry, I mean yes. That sounds like a lovely idea.” We are both smiling at each other now and we share a long slow kiss before we apparate out.  
This time when we land Draco is sick. We knock on the door and Lottie answers.  
“Hellos sirs, mistress Tonks didn’t know’s you was coming sirs.”  
“Sorry Lottie, hope it’s okay?” I tell her as she lets us past.  
“Of course sirs, of course. Come in.”  
Next thing, a blue haired Teddy rushes in. He takes a run at Draco but I step in front before he can hurt him and lift him into a hug.  
“Uncle Harry! Draco! I’m so glad you're here. Grandma’s been sad today. You can cheer her up though.” We look at each other with sad eyes.  
“Why yes we can. We have some exciting news to tell you both.” Draco tells Teddy and ruffles his hair, which then turns white blonde.  
“What?! Tell me, tell me.” Teddy says excitedly and gets down from me.  
“We will, but with grandma present too.” I tell him. Then he sprints down the hall, presumably to go get Andy.  
Me and Draco make our way to the sitting room and make ourselves comfortable. Then Teddy walks in pulling a tired looking Andy. She’s probably sad because it’s so close to Teddy’s birthday and she’s remembering Tonks.  
“Hello boys, this is a surprise. Teddy said you have some news for us. Is it about the house?” She asks and sits down with Teddy on her lap.  
“Hello aunt andromeda.” Draco says and goes quiet. Guess I’ll be sharing the news today then.  
“Hiya Andy. Yeah we do. It’s not about the house and it might come as a shock to you, as it did to us.” I look to Draco and he’s smiling at me, then he places his hand on his belly. I follow his lead and place my hand on top of his. “Draco’s going to have a baby!” I say all in on.  
“What!” I hear Andy say just as Teddy says, “shit!” We all turn to Teddy then.  
“Sorry, I’m not supposed to say that. Am I going to have another cousin then?” He asks.  
“That’s right, how do you feel about that?” I ask him. Andy has gone a bit pale and isn’t saying anything.  
“That’s great! Can we take the baby to the park with us? Is it a boy or a girl? When’s it going to be born? Are you going to get fat Draco, like Fleur was?” He says rather quickly and then puffs up his cheeks and puts his arms out around his belly pretending to be fat. “Like this?” He says and walks around the room woddleing. I chuckle at that and Draco wacks my arm.  
“Ow.” I rub my arm where he hit me. “Yes Teddy, they can come to the park with us. We don’t know yet if its a boy or girl, and the little cherry is due October 26th.”  
“I might get a bit bigger yes, but I won’t be fat.” Draco says and crosses his arms while raising his chin. That just makes me snort and he hits me again.  
Then all of a sudden, Andy stands up and walks out of the room. We all stare after her and Teddy deflates from pretending to be fat and now looks sad.  
“Where’s she going?” He asks innocently. I look at Draco and he looks hurt. Why is everyone taking this baby thing so hard?  
“I’ll go after her.” I say to Draco and then look at Teddy. “Can you look after Draco for a minute, cub?” He nods his head and goes over to Draco.  
As I’m leaving the room I hear Teddy say “can I see your belly Draco?” That makes me chuckle again, poor Draco.  
I find Andy in the kitchen making herself busy. She jumps slightly when she sees me.  
“Oh Harry, dear I’m so sorry.” She been crying in here and is about to start again. “I just… it…”. She starts again, “With Teddy’s birthday coming, I’ve just been remembering how excited Dora was about being a mum. And then you tell me you're going to be parents and everything just came back. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. I’m sorry if I hurt yours or Draco feelings. I should go apologise.-“ I cut her off with a hug.  
“Andy it’s okay. I understand and I’m sorry we sprang this on you. We were just excited to tell the two of you.”  
“It’s okay Harry, and I really am thrilled for you two. Congratulations.” We stay still for a minute just hugging while she cries on my shoulder. Then she pulls away and wipes her eyes and smiles at me. “Wow your going to be a father Harry!” She says and squeezes my cheeks. “You’ve been so good with our Teddy, I know you will do just as well with your own.” She pulls away and we go back into the sitting room.  
When we walk in, Teddy has his ear against Draco’s small bump.  
“I can’t hear anything, are you sure your not just fat?” He says to Draco. By the look of Draco, Teddy has been asking a lot of questions like that.  
“We’re sure Teddy. Do you want to see the scan?” I ask him and sit back down next to Draco. Andy follows me over and takes Draco into a hug.  
“Congrats darling! I’m so happy for you.” She says in his ear.  
“Thank you aunt andromeda, that means a lot.”  
“I wanna see the scan!” Teddy shouts while jumping up and down. We all laugh and Draco pulls the picture out his pocket. Teddy goes to snatch it but Andy takes it first.  
“Be careful Teddy, no snatching.” She says and lets him see while she’s holding it. “Wow, look at it. How far along are you Draco?” She asks while Teddy is staring in amazement at the moving image of his baby cousin.  
“I’m 11 weeks. The healer said I could start telling people now though if I wanted to because everything looked healthy and in order.” He says happily.  
We were there for another 2 hours, chatting and eating and laughing. Then we floo back to grimmauld.  
“I think I should go speak to Ron.” I tell Draco before we have a chance to sit down.  
“Yeah, I think I’m going to go have a cup of tea with my mother and go to bed, I’m knackered.” We kiss goodbye and he leaves. Then I take a deep breath and floo to Ron’s.  
“Hello?”  
“In here.” I hear Ron call out from the kitchen. Good he’s home.  
I walk in and him and Hermione look to be having a romantic meal, candles included.  
“Oh merlin, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting.” I say slightly embarrassed. “I should have called first.”  
“Not at all Harry, come in.” Hermione says as she gets up to clear the dishes.  
“I’ll do them babe.” Ron says and gets up.  
“No, you sit… and talk.” She shoos him away. I sit down next to Ron and we sit in silence for a minute.  
“Boys.” Hermione says and rolls her eyes. “I’m going to the bathroom, will you two just talk already.” As soon as she leaves we both apologise at the same time.  
“Let me go first Harry. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that. Hermione said that you were going to tell me that night and just hadn’t had a chance before Luna blurted it out. I was just a little hurt that she had known and Ginny and Hermione but you hadn’t told me.” He looks down at his hands.  
“I’m sorry too. But I hadn’t told Luna or Ginny. Hermione only knew because she was there when me and Draco had fallen out. That day you broke my door down.” I chuckle at that and so does he.  
“Merlin Harry. We are both going to be dads in less than 7 months.” He laughs and puts his head in his hands. “Who would have guessed?”  
“Not me, that’s for bloody sure.” I chuckle.  
Ron gets the beers out then and by the time I get home it’s way past 11. Hermione had long gone to bed and me and Ron had sat talking and drinking just like old times. I told him how the house was going, about Nia, about going to Hogwarts (which he was a bit jealous about), about thinking of quitting the aurors (which he wasn’t to happy about but he understood), but mainly we talking about our pregnant partners and how excited yet terrified we were about becoming dads. It was nice to talk to him again just us and we agreed to do it again soon. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting guys, I’ve been in Scotland. I’ll be posting 3 chapters today to say sorry. Hope you like them. X

April 11th.  
Two days later, me and Draco arrived at Andromeda's to pick Teddy up. We are going to take him to the park for an hour while Andy sets the party up. Me and Draco are the distraction. I really can't wait to see Teddy’s face when everyone yells surprise. I bet he’ll be so excited.  
We apparated in so we could surprise Teddy with his present. We have bought him his first broom. He always talks about brooms and how much he wants to ride one. I was going to buy him one last year but the guy in the shop said the children had to be 6, so I’ve waited all year to get him this.   
Before we can even knock on the door Teddy pulls it open and runs at us. He must remember the baby then because he stops just short of Draco and holds him hands out for a hug. Draco chuckles and bends down to squeeze him.   
“Happy birthday Edward.” Draco says and then Teddy turns to me and races over.   
I awkwardly hug him while holding the wrapped broom behind my back.   
“Happy birthday little cub.” I kiss the top of his head and stand back up.   
“Thank you uncle Harry, thank you Draco!” He jumps up and down and grabs our hands to try to pull us inside. “Come on, come on. I wanna show you what grandma got me!” He says, but we stand still and eventually he turns around.  
“We wanted to give you our present first Teddy. Close your eyes.” Instead of closing them, he opens them wide and holds his hands out.  
“Edward...close your eyes.” Draco says this time and goes around the back of him to gently place his hand over Teddy’s eyes. Teddy is so excited he looks like he has been shocked by electricity. He lifts his hands out higher and has a big grin on his face. I place the broom in his hands and close his fingers around it. He gasps and Draco removes his hand just in time to see Teddy’s eyes shoot open.   
“SHIT! No way!” He shouts so loud that some birds in the trees get scared and take flight. Then he starts ripping the packaging open.   
“Teddy Lupin!” Andy scolds from the door, where she must have been watching from.  
“Sorry grandma!” He says looking guilty behind him, then he looks at us. “Thank you so much uncle Harry! And thank you so much Uncle Draco!” Then he turns around and runs to Andy to show her his new broom.   
I watch him run with excitement and then turn to Draco and he kind of looks like he’s about to cry.  
“Draco…” I touch his elbow and he turns on with a huge smile.  
“Did you hear that Harry?! He called me uncle Draco!” I smile back and put my arm around his shoulders.  
“I did catch on to that. It was cute. Maybe this whole baby thing has made him realise you are sticking around.” I lift his chin and give him a kiss. He smiles at me and we head towards Teddy and Andy.  
After seeing all of Teddy’s presents, we take him to the quidditch pitch and we spend the whole hour teaching him how to ride. He gets the hang of things pretty fast for a 6 year old. He’s a natural. So when we tell him it's time to go home, he starts to whine a little.  
“But whyyy?? I’m having fun, and it's my birthday so I should decide how I spend it.” He says to us. “Pleasseeee.”  
“No cub, come on. Your grandma wants to spend time with you today. How about you come to our house next week and you can help us clean and then we can all go on our brooms? How does that sound?” I ask him while bending on one knee.  
“Oh yes please uncle Harry! But is uncle Draco allowed to ride a broom while pregnant?”   
“Hmmm, I don’t actually know…” I look up to Draco to see if he has the answer but he just shrugs, “I’ll ask the healers.” I wink at him and get up. “Now who wants a piggyback?”   
“I do, I do!” Teddy says while already trying to climb my back. I hear Draco mumble something like ‘I’d appreciate one’, and look behind me. He looks worn out and in pain. I take his hand after getting Teddy on my shoulders.  
“You okay?” I ask him.  
“Yeah, just tired and my back is killing.”  
“We will be back at Andy’s soon and you can have a nice sit down.” I smile at him and kiss his hand. He smiles back and we head to the apparition point.  
I’ve still got Teddy on my shoulders when we get back to the house, so I get him down but keep hold of his hand so he doesn’t run off into the house on his own.   
“So Teddy… you know we don’t want anyone to know about the baby yet right?” Draco asks him as we approach the door.  
“Yeah I know, uncle Harry told me. But why? Everyone is always happy when there is a new baby coming.”   
“Well today is all about you.” He tells him and pinches his cheeks to which Teddy giggles. “And maybe not everyone will be happy.”  
“Why?” Teddy asks, in the way all children ask questions that are awkward to answer.  
“Well...well because of our past, or maybe because we are both men, or maybe because they don’t think I deserve uncle Harry.” Draco tells him with a twinge of sadness in his voice.  
“Well that’s stupid.” Teddy says which makes me smirk. Which is when we arrive at the door.  
I let go of Teddy’s hand and open the door for him to go in first.  
“Grandma! We’re home!” Teddy shouts and takes his shoes off. He lifts his head when there’s no answer and looks around. “Grandma!”  
“I think I know where she is Ted.” I tell him and lead him to the dining room. He opens the door and suddenly these mini fireworks go off and everyone inside yells ‘surprise!’.   
Teddy looks shocked for about half a second and then runs into the room and chases the firework horses and streamers around the room laughing. Everyone greets him and wishes him a happy birthday. Andy flicks on the wireless and the party starts.  
A couple of hours later and everyone is sat down in the sitting room, stuffed after party food and cake. Teddy’s playing with his new presents with the other kids, he loves to share things, always has. Hermione stands up then.  
“Well Teddy, we are going home. I hope you had a good time.” She says and goes to grab her coat.  
“Wait! Can I say something to everyone before anyone leaves?” He asks while also getting up.   
“Of course Teddy, go ahead love.” Hermione says and sits back down next to Ron.  
“Well I…” He goes a bit shy then and looks down at his shoes. “I had a really good time today, thank you everyone. My presents were lovely and the party was brilliant.” He looks up again now, getting a bit of confidence back. “But it wouldn’t have been possible without my uncle Harry and my uncle Draco. They are some of the greatest people I know and whoever disagrees shouldn’t come to my house anymore…. and well, they are going to be great dads!” He finishes his speech then. I was smiling all the way through until that last sentence. Merlin Teddy, he really didn’t get things sometimes.   
The whole room is silent, then to my complete surprise Draco sit up straight and clears his throat.  
“Well thank you Teddy, for telling everyone. Yes, it’s true, I’m pregnant. Like Teddy said, if you don’t like it, get out.” Then he sits back and grabs my hand. I smile at him and look around. George stands up then.  
“Well I don’t know about anyone else but…” he says and I’m completely hurt at what he's saying for about a second until he speaks again. “I knew it!” He burst out laughing and Angelina Smacks him, “what?! He’s huge and always throwing up or crying. He’s worse than Hermione.” He laughs some more and a few people join in. Then we are all laughing including Draco.  
After another half an hour of chatting and people saying congratulations, people start leaving. Soon enough me, Draco, Teddy and Andy are the only ones left. Me and Draco are lounging on the couch, with him between my legs and my hands all over his belly. Andy is in her arm chair and Teddy’s almost asleep next to the fire.   
“Right, I’m going to put this one to bed. Is that alright with you Andy?” I ask her before moving from behind Draco.  
“Of course, go ahead.” I go over to him on the floor and pick him up. He wakes up a bit then.   
“Come on cub, bedtime. Say goodnight.” He leans his head on my shoulder and wraps his legs around my hips.   
“Goodnight grandma, goodnight uncle Draco. Thanks for today.” He says sleepily. They say their good nights back and we head upstairs.  
Once he's dress and in bed, I sit on the edge next to him.  
“What you did today was very nice but we asked you not to. What happened?” I ask him gently.  
“Well, when uncle Draco was saying those things, it didn’t seem right. It made me upset because I love you both and so should everyone else. And you guys gave me the best birthday ever, so I wanted to do something for you. Just because you’re two men, doesn’t mean you can’t love each other. And just because you both have different pasts, doesn’t mean you can’t have a future. Right? Why can’t everyone see that?” He’s so young and innocent at this moment, that it brings tears to my eyes.  
“Not everyone has a beautiful soul like yours Teddy. Not everyone can see love like you. But as long as the people I love don’t care, then that’s all that matters to me. I don’t care what other people think because I have you.” I give him a big hug and kiss his head, while Tears drip down my face. “You are a sweet boy Ted, you make sure you always stay that way!” I wipe my face and give him a wicked grin. “You hear me? Eh?” Then start tickling him. He starts shrieking with laughter then and yelling ‘stop!’.   
I stand up and go to the door.   
“Goodnight cub, I love you so much.” I tell him and turn the light off.  
“I know uncle Harry, and I love you and uncle Draco too. Goodnight.” He says with a yawn and turns over. I shut the door and head downstairs to collect Draco.   
Later on we are finally in bed and Draco is almost asleep when I start talking.  
“Teddy is going to be a great man someday.” I say gently with pride. Draco turns over and puts his arm over my chest.  
“I know. He’s so loyal and kind, but also brave and cunning.” He smirks at me. “Shall we put bets on now or…” I laugh at him and smirk back.  
“If we are putting bets on, I’m definitely going with Hufflepuff. Just like his mum.”  
“Nah, I’m going with Gryffindor, just like his dad.” He smiles at me. “He’s got nerve that kid, telling everyone our secret.” He chuckles.  
“Yeah about that, guess the secrets out now. How do you feel?” I run my fingers through his hair and he hugs into me further.   
“I kind of feel lighter if I’m honest. Like I was being weighed down by this secret and now it’s out and everything is fine. I don’t know why I was so stressed about it.”   
“Yeah same. I guess Teddy’s braver than both of us….maybe he will end up in Gryffindor.” I think about it but stick with my guess. After everything that kid said to me, how can he not be a Hufflepuff. I wonder what ours will turn out to be.   
The following Friday I start Nia’s lessons and Teddy also comes to help with the house. Nia’s books came yesterday and we walked through what we would start with. I’ve been teaching her magic 101 of things she needs to know, since we found out. But now her books are here, we can finally start practicing magic.   
Teddy’s in the pantry with Draco, finishing the last bit of painting. There is two more rooms downstairs we have to deal with, then the floo network and we still have to get someone to look at all the broken windows. We’ve decided to deal with the outside after the downstairs is done. Me and Nia will be practising outside anyway and the weathers been warming up, so it just makes sense to be outside. Then when it starts getting too hot outside, we will start the upstairs.   
The first thing I’m teaching Nia is the levitation charm. I've told her what charm to use and I demonstrated for her, now it's her turn.   
“Wingardium Leviosa!” She says perfectly while pointing my spare wand at a leaf. The leaf floats up softly just like the feathers in my first year.   
“Wow Nia, you're a natural!” I tell her, I’m shocked she got it so easily.   
“Thanks! Hermione dropped some extra books off a few days ago and I’ve been reading up on how to correctly cast spells and charms, among other things.”  
“Well that is certainly helping! You're doing great! You’ll have graduated in no time.” I joke with her.  
“Thanks Harry. By the way, can you tell me about this hat you want me to speak to?” Ohhh she means the sorting hat.  
“Ermm yeah sure. It’s not a big deal really. In Hogwarts there are 4 houses. Each house means different things. So say you are sorted into Gryffindor, then it means the hat saw that you were brave, and confident, and daring. Whereas if you were placed in slytherin then the hat saw that you were cunning, and ambitious, and had pride. There is also Ravenclaw, which means you're intelligent, creative, and wise. And lastly is hufflepuff, which means your patient, loyal, and dedicated. The hat looks into your soul and sees which house you belong in. There have been some questionable choices made by the hat, like Hermione. Anyone who looks at her could swear she is Ravenclaw, but deep down when things got real, you saw that she belongs in Gryffindor. But with you it will only be for fun really. You don’t have to do anything you're not comfortable with, Nia.”  
“Okay, I’ll think about it.” She says and then picks her wand up for another go at the charm.  
After another half an hour practising things and teaching, I declare a break. We go inside to find Draco and Teddy so we can go to lunch at Whipped. Nia has cut down her hours working at Whipped and is just working lates now so she can learn magic in the day. She says she doesn’t mind and it’s keeping her busy, but I hope it doesn’t get too much for her.   
As we are walking to the cafe, Nia and Teddy are ahead of us chatting and chasing each other, and me and Draco are strolling behind holding hands. For a second I imagine us older and Nia and Teddy as our children. One of which is still growing inside Draco. Life is good. I smile at Draco and lean over to kiss him sweetly. In this moment life is definitely good and I am very happy.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy X

May 13th.  
“Baby’s looking very healthy, Draco. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” Katie said to Draco after finishing with the examination. We had seen another scan and Katie said she would print more pictures for us. “How are you feeling now?”  
“A lot better actually. I’m hardly being sick at all now, and my emotions are near enough back to normal. I have some off days but I’m feeling a lot better. Although I expect our little cherry here is getting a lot bigger, I’ve had to buy all new clothes because nothing fits me.” Draco says a bit sulkily towards the end.  
“Good! Now, at 16 weeks the baby isn’t the size of a cherry anymore.” She giggles. “More like the size of an avocado, and growing faster everyday. The baby is more likely to hear voices at this stage and may even start to recognise songs sung to it. The baby can also make a fist and start sucking its thumb at this stage.” She smiles at us.  
“I can't call it little avocado though.” He frowns and thinks for a second and then his face lights up. “So simple. Chéri! Sounds like cherry and means ‘darling’.” He grins wide and I giggle.  
“Perfect, more french.” I roll my eyes sarcastically and he punches my arm and laughs.   
“I know you love it.” He tells me while getting up off the examination bed.  
“Yeah I must admit it's cute.”  
“So Draco, you may start getting back ache more often, you may get pains in your stomach, headaches, nosebleeds, sore breasts, dizziness, feeling hot, and leg cramps. I'll give you a leaflet and if you are worried about anything then just call in and see me anytime.” She hands him some papers and then jumps, “oh! I almost forgot. Do you guys want to hear the baby’s heartbeat?” We both nod with wide eyes and Draco lies back down. Katie points her wand and mumbles a quick spell and then suddenly there is a thumping noise all around.   
“Wow.” Is all I can say. It’s amazing, and it’s there and it’s alive. Me and Draco made that. I take his hand and squeeze it. After a minute it’s gone again.  
“Now here’s your pictures and I can get a recording of the heartbeat put into a teddy for you?” We both nod and she goes to get a teddy. Draco gets up and we both get our coats on.   
Katie comes back with a dragon teddy.  
“I saw it and just had to.” She says while grinning. She hands it to Draco and he presses its belly. The heartbeat echoes out once more.   
“Thank you healer Bell.” Draco says and turns to leave.  
“Yeah thank you so much Katie.” I tell her and take Draco’s hand as we are leaving the office.  
“No problem. Remember, if you need anything just call in.” We wave our thanks and head to the floo.   
I’ve finally got someone to look at the floo at ‘Notre coeur’ and it’s been classed as safe, so Draco isn’t refusing to use it anymore. We land in the front room and dust off. Most of the outside of the house is done now, so we can move on to the upstairs. Then we have to start back at the bottom and decorate with colours and furniture.   
As we are heading upstairs, I ask Draco something I’ve been wanting to for a couple of weeks.  
“Hey dray? How do you feel if we make one of these bedrooms for Nia? I hate thinking of her out there in an old barn. And she’s helped us loads with the house. And she’s trying really hard in lessons. And-“ he turns around and kisses me, presumably to shut me up.  
“Actually, I was going to ask you the same thing. I think it would be nice.”  
“Her birthday is next month, we could surprise her?” I tell him. I’m so glad he’s on my side with this. We may not have known her for long but she feels like family.   
“Yeah sounds good. Now we just have to choose which bedroom is which.” He says and stops at the top of the stairs.   
The stairs were centered in the middle of the house. So straight across was the first bedroom. It was medium size and had a small en-suite. It was at the back of the house and didn’t need a lot of work done.   
To the right of the stairs was four doors. The first one was on the left, which was just a big cupboard. The next was on the right. It was a square room and looked like it was a lounge area. The next on the right was another laundry room, smaller than the downstairs one. The last door straight ahead was the master bedroom. It was at the front of the house and was huge. It had a big en-suite with a massive bathtub and separate shower. This room needed quite a lot doing to it.  
“This one is definitely ours.” Draco says after looking around.   
“Yeah I agree.”   
We go back to the stairs and look left this time. Around the corner was a bit of an open area where a desk could fit, and then there were three doors. Three bedrooms and the main bathroom. Two of the bedrooms were about the same size as the first one we saw and then there was a tiny one. I couldn’t see Nia living in any of these though, then I had a plan. I turned around and went up to the loft.  
“This is perfect!” I shouted down to Draco.  
“What for?” He asks, coming up the stairs slowly.   
“For Nia! All this space for her. It’s perfect right?” I look around and imagine what it would look like. There is a bathroom up here and there is enough room to split into a bedroom and a sitting area.  
“Yeah it is.”  
With that decided we head back downstairs to collect the cleaning things to start on Nia’s room. Draco still can’t use a lot of magic so he’s still on cleaning duty while I sort the holes in the walls and missing floors.  
“It really needs more natural light in here. We will have to ask the window guy to put a couple more windows in.” Draco says while cleaning the only window currently installed.   
“Yeah, I’ll give him a ring tomorrow and find out when he’s coming.”  
After a couple of hours, everything is fixed. The cleaning just needs to be finished and then we can start on the paint.  
“Nia’s working today right? We will have to pop round and ask her what her favourite colours are. We can have lunch too.” I tell him.  
“Yeah I’m starving, can we go soon.” I laugh and help him up.  
“Come on.” We go downstairs and grab our coats, then head off to Whipped.  
When we get there, we head to our usual table and Nia waves to us.  
“Hey Harry, hey Draco. Do you want the usual?”  
“Please Nia.” She tells the chief our order then comes to sit down with us with our drinks.   
“So, how did the doctors go?”  
“They’re called healers in the wizard community. But it went great, right Draco?”  
“Yeah! We even got to hear little chéri heartbeat, wanna hear?” Before she could answer, Draco had gotten the dragon teddy out and pressed it’s belly. And there it was again, our baby’s heartbeat.   
“OMG guys! That’s fantastic!” She pressed her ear to the dragon to listen more closely.   
“Nia? What’s your favourite colours?” I ask her while she’s distracted.  
“Ermm… oh like a navy blue, emerald green, and a golden yellow. Those colours look great together.” She lifts her head and then Draco pulls the scan picture out. “Wow! It’s getting so big!” She says and takes the photo.  
“Yeah, so am I.” Draco huffs but I could tell he didn’t really mean it.  
“Awww, I think your little belly is adorable.” Then she goes to touch it but Draco stops her by grabbing her wrist.  
“Not in front of the muggles dear.” He says with an eyebrow up.  
“Right, sorry, I keep forgetting.” She pulls her hand back and looks around.  
“It’s okay. So, are you still okay for tomorrow's lesson? Mcgonagall sent some plants so we can start herbology.”  
“Yeah that sounds great! I’ve read all the books Hermione gave me on herbology, I think I’m really going to enjoy it.” She says excitedly.  
“I think you should meet Neville. He promised to come help with the greenhouse anyway, so i'll give him a call. He is the herbology professor at Hogwarts, but also an old friend.”  
“Sounds good, I've got to get back to work now. I’ll just grab your food.”   
After finishing our lunch, we headed back to the house to get back to work on Nia room. Tomorrow I’ll have to ring the window guy, look at the furniture catalogue, and find some paint. All after Nia’s lesson. Then I will ring Neville and see when he is free. I think this bedroom will take another week or so just to finish cleaning and get the windows in. Then we will have to paint with the colours she likes and then get the furniture in. And hopefully it will all be done by her birthday.   
The next day after Nia’s lesson I ring the window guy. He says he will come tomorrow and measure up, then he can fit them next Thursday. I give Draco the catalogue for the furniture, because he’s better with that stuff. And I ordered some paint. Then I floo call Neville.  
“Hiya Harry! You alright?” Neville says when he sees me.  
“Hey Neville. I was just wondering when we can get started on this greenhouse?”  
“I’m free right now to come look at it. It will only take 5 minutes and then I can get some plants ordered.”  
“Great, come on through.”  
He steps through and we head outside.  
“It's just round the corner.” I tell him and lead the way.  
When we get there, we both stop and look. It's as big as a garage and the shape of a hexagon. It’s made of light coloured wood and glass panels. It could be really pretty but at the moment you can't see through the glass panels, some of which are missing, the wood looks rotted, and inside looks like a jungle of weeds.  
“I’ve got a bit of work to do on it yet.” I tell him, slightly embarrassed. I rub the back of my neck and look away. Neville slaps my back and laughs.  
“Don’t worry Harry, I can help. I’m pretty sure grimmauld looked worse.” We both laugh at that and head inside.   
“All these weeds need coming up.” I tell him and start tugging on one.  
“Not necessarily. A weed is just a plant we see to be in an undesirable location. Some of these plants we may want to keep. Let me have a look around.” He says to me and I stop pulling at the weed- no the plant.   
“Harry!? Where are you!?” Draco shouts from around the corner. I head out of the greenhouse and shout back.  
“Greenhouse!”  
“There you are. What do you think of this for Nia’s bedroom?” He only has a T-shirt and joggers on today and his T-shirt is riding up a bit to show his belly. I wonder if he knows Neville is here.  
He hands me over the catalogue and shows me dark wooden wardrobes, chest of draws, and 2 side tables. They actually look really nice and will suit the dark blue paint.  
“Looks great babe, when will it be here?” I ask him.  
“If we order today it will be here by next Saturday.” He says and takes another look at it.  
“Perfect, Brian will be done with the windows by then.”  
“Hey Harry, do you wanna keep this?” Neville says and comes out of the greenhouse. He sees Draco and immediately looks at his belly and they both freeze. “Draco… hey. So I guess it’s true then. Congratulations, you two!” Draco unfreezes then, then turns and practically sprints into the house. “Oh I’m sorry Harry, I didn’t mean offence.” Neville says shyly to me.  
“It’s okay Neville, and thanks. He’s just self conscious at the moment.”  
Me and Neville agreed he should probably wait until after we finish Nia’s room to come round. He said he would get the plants ordered and find some more books for Nia to look at. Then he left through the floo and I went to find Draco.  
He was in Nia’s room, cleaning the bathroom. There are a lot of cracked tiles that need fixing and the toilet probably needs replacing, but the rest just needs a thoroughly deep cleaning.  
“Hey.” I say to him and sit down next to him. He stops cleaning and sits next to me with his head on my shoulder.  
“I’m sorry.” He says in a small voice. I can tell he’s embarrassed by what happened.  
“Babe it's okay. Neville wasn’t bothered about the way you look, so you shouldn’t have been either.” I hold his hand and kiss it gently.  
“But male pregnancies aren’t common and as soon as he saw my stomach, it’s like I could hear his thoughts.”  
“Oh yeah? And what were his thoughts saying?” I ask sarcastically. He chuckles and sighs.  
“Probably not what he was thinking. But all I could hear was fat, and ugly, and…. different. I don’t want to be the one that people stare at again. It just took me back to the war, and I don’t want to go back there.” He is crying now, so I wrap my arm around him and pull him close.  
“It won't be like that. People are happy when they see this.” I place my hand on his stomach and rub it slowly. “Total opposite from the war okay. And from now on, I promise I will warn you when we have visitors okay?” He has stopped crying and is still now. I look down and his eyes are wide. “What?” I stop rubbing his belly and go to sit up, but he stops me.  
“Wait, keep rubbing. I think I can feel little chéri moving!” He says excitedly. I place my hand back but can’t feel anything.  
“I don’t feel it.” I tell him, slightly upset.  
“No you won't be able to. chéri is only small, I can just feel sort of a fluttering inside. Merlin Harry, this is amazing.” I smile down at him and can see it’s making him happy so I carry on rubbing. “I think she knows it’s you, somehow.”  
“Yeah you know who your daddy is don’t you baby.” I tell Draco’s belly, which makes him giggle. “Hey, Katie said the baby can hear us now, so maybe it really does know it's me.”  
“Well it better know me too, considering I’m the one that has to carry it around for 9 months.” We both laugh and I help him up then. “I think I want to know the gender.” He says and cringes, then quickly carries on. “I’m sorry and I know we said we didn’t but I’m sick of calling it an it. We don’t have to find out if you don’t want to, but it would be nice to paint the nursery a colour other than yellow.”  
“Okay.” Is all I say and he smiles at me because he knows that he doesn’t need to make an argument. He knows I want to know just as much as him.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xXx

June 5th.  
Today is Draco’s birthday, but he hates celebrating it and wont let me tell anyone else when it is. He told me not to get him anything but of course I ignored him like every year and I’ve gotten him a silver dragon on a chain. On the back I’ve engraved ‘I love you my dragon’. We are going to have dinner with his mother later and then we are coming back and I’m making him a bath with rose petals and lavender bath salts.   
He is currently at his and I’m meeting him there at 5. I won't give him his present until later though.  
It’s 4:45 and I’m ready to leave, but I just have to make the bath all ready for when we get back. I add the bath salt and petals and a few candles here and there. I put a charm on the bath to keep it warm and I’ll light the candles when we get back. It looks romantic as hell in here, I hope he likes it. I leave my present on the sink and head for the floo.  
“Happy birthday.” I whisper in Draco’s ear as I’m hugging him hello. Narcissa is right behind me so I just give him a kiss on the cheek.   
“Thank you.” He rolls his eyes at me.  
“Hello Narcissa, how are you?” I turn and hug her as well, then kiss her cheek.  
“Good evening Harry, I’m very well thank you. And thank you for leaving my son with me today, it's been lovely.” She smirks at me.  
“Your welcome. I hope he did more than moan at you for not ignoring his birthday.” I say and we both laugh and make our way to the dining room.   
The food is lovely as always and we all have a chat and laugh, mainly at Draco, but it’s all fun.  
“So have you two thought of any names for this little chéri?” Narcissa says and I chuckle.  
“He’s got you calling it that too?” I take his hand and he smirks at me.  
“No mother, we haven’t even discussed names yet.” I look a bit sheepish at that, as if we are meant to have names picked out this early.  
“Well you’ll know the gender by Saturday so you’ll only be arguing about one genders names instead of two.” She laughs and we chuckle half heartedly back.   
We finish up a couple of hours later in the sitting area.  
“Right mother, we are going now. I will see you in a couple of days.” Draco says and gets up slowly. Narcissa gets up two and goes over to Draco and gives him a long gentle hug.  
“Goodbye Draco, and happy birthday.” She whispers to him. “Take care of that grandchild of mine, and if I don’t see you before, I will see you on Saturday.”  
“Of course. I’ll see you then.” They release each other and she comes over to me.  
“Bye Harry, Thank you for coming. Tonight has been lovely.”  
“That it has Narcissa, we will see you Saturday.”  
When we are finally back at grimmauld, I lead Draco to the bathroom and light the candles. He stands in the doorway and I wrap my hands around his waist and rub his belly.  
“Happy birthday.” I say seductively in his ear and mouth at his neck.  
“Harry… I told you, I don’t want anything special.” He whines a bit but leans into me anyway.  
“Happy Tuesday then.” I tell him and he giggles and turns around to snog me.   
He eventually gets in the bath and I sit on the toilet seat next to him, stroking his protruding belly. After I’ve helped him wash and made him feel relaxed, I sit back down for a while. Then I grab the small box off the table. “I know you're going to see your arse, but…. I got you something.” He frowns at me and stops playing with my hair.   
“Harry james potter, I swear to merlin. You never listen to me!” Before he can say anything else, I shove the box at him.  
“Oh just open it.” I roll my eyes at him and smirk. He stares at it with wide eyes and then opens it slowly and for a second his face drops. Did he think it was a ring?! Is he ready?!  
“What?! Don’t you like it?! Did you think it was something else?” I ask him while getting onto my knees.  
“No, it's lovely. Thank you.” He says sadly and then gets out of the bath and goes to the bedroom.   
“Draco…” I go in after him. He’s sat on the bed crying.  
“It’s nothing, it’s just hormones. I’m fine.” He says while trying and failing to stop crying.  
“Clearly you’re not fine. I thought you said you weren’t ready to get married?” I sit down next to him and see he’s still got the box in his hand.  
“I thought I wasn’t, but… I don’t know, okay? I thought I wasn’t ready for a child, but here we are.” I wipe his cheek and turn him to face me.  
“Well why are you upset then?” I get down on one knee and hold his hands. “Draco Malfoy, will you marry me?” He starts crying more then but happy tears. Then finally nods his head.  
“Yes.” He says through tears and now I’m starting to tear up. “I didn’t think my proposal would look like this. Me in my towel, 5 months pregnant, and no ring.” He burst out laughing which I join in with.   
“There will definitely be a ring my love, but for now the necklace will have to do.” I take it out and show him the back, which makes him cry again. We kiss long and slow, and Draco doesn’t get dressed the whole night.  
3 days later and tomorrow was Nia’s birthday. She was spending the day with me and Draco at the house, where we would surprise her with her room. Then Hermione and Ron and Neville were going to come over for a small meal. After that she was going out with her friends for drinks.  
Then the day after was Draco’s 20 week scan. We could find out the gender at this scan, but instead we were having a joint gender reveal party with Ron and Hermione. They changed their minds about not wanting to know last month. So we (Hermione) planned a whole party around it. It isn’t really mine or Draco’s thing but it could be fun. George is the one that is going to know because he is putting the reveal into fireworks, of course.  
So the party would be Saturday and it would be at ‘Notre coeur’. It would be outside in a big tent with food and drinks and friends and family. Then the fireworks would come and we would find out if our little chéri is a boy or girl. I was definitely excited about that bit.  
We had finally finished Nia’s loft last week. We had painted the slanted roof navy blue with yellow stars and a moon. Draco had put a charm on it so that the stars twinkle and every so often a shooting star appears. Then with the moon he had done it so it changes from full to crescent as it does in the sky. The rest of the walls were a golden yellow and had emerald leaves dotted about which Draco charmed to sway like in a breeze.   
Two extra windows and a balcony was added in the end, to make it more light and so she could sit out on the balcony in the summer. The furniture was all arranged nicely so that the bedroom was at one end, with a waist high wall added to give privacy, and the sitting area in the middle with the bathroom through the door at the other end.   
“It looks amazing in here!” I tell draco. We are adding last minute things like cushions and a mini fridge.   
We bought her new clothes and jewellery and everything. We kind of went overboard, but she’s been so helpful and kind that we just couldn’t help ourselves.   
“I know, I’m kind of jealous.” Draco says and we laugh. “I hope the rest of the house turns out just as good.” He finishes blowing the rest of the birthday balloons up with magic and sits down on the couch. I put the bow on the door and then join him. There was no denying Draco was pregnant anymore. He was huge and couldn’t hide it. Whereas Hermione could still hide hers if she wanted to, which annoyed Draco every time he saw her.   
“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” He asks and arches his eyebrow flirtily.   
“Ermm...we could go back to grimmauld?” I tell him. I don’t know if it’s me or if he’s coming on to me.  
“Sounds like a plan to me. Lets go.” He heaves himself up faster than I knew he could move and goes to pull me up.  
“Wow, what’s the rush?” I tease him.  
“You’ll find out if you get a move on.” He says as he’s going through the door. I get up and shut the door behind me. Then I put spells up to keep Nia away in case she decides to drop by.   
As I’m coming down the stairs, I hear the floo go. Then I hear Draco shout through.  
“I’m already naked, if you don’t hurry up, I’ll already have finished.” I smirk at that and rush through after him. Draco has been very lustriden since we got engaged and we’ve had sex at least once everyday since. I’m not complaining though.   
The following morning we get up early and have breakfast. We want to get to the house before Nia does and then we can give her a key.  
“Do you think she’ll like it?” Draco asks me over breakfast. He’s been a bit shy about this whole thing for the past week. I think he really likes Nia and appreciates her friendship. She is the first person Draco has made friends with that he didn’t know before the war.   
“She’ll love it, I’m sure.” I squeeze his hand and we finish our breakfast.   
We floo to our house after we get changed and the front door is still locked which means she didn’t use the spare key to get in.  
“She must still be in the barn. Have you got the card?” Draco asks me before unlocking the door.  
“Yes dear.” I tell him with a wink and a tap of my pocket.  
We head to the barn and knock on the door.  
“Come in.” We open the door and Nia is climbing down the ladders.  
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” We both shout at her. She lights up and comes running over to hug us.  
“Thank you guys!” She lets go and I hand her the card. She looks even more excited than Teddy at his birthday party. She opens the card and reads it and then looks up to where Draco is holding a key in his hand.  
“This is ‘Notre coeur’ and we are offering for you to be a part of it.” She takes the key and looks like she’s about to cry.  
“For the house? Really? You don’t have to do this.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and squeeze her.  
“Sure we do, your family now. Come on, we have another surprise inside for you.”  
We had locked the door on purpose so she could open it with her key, then we lead her upstairs.  
“Right, close your eyes and slowly go up the stairs.” I tell her and go behind her in case she falls, while Draco takes the front. We all get to the door and stop.  
“Okay, open your eyes.” Draco tells her. She opens them and gapes. She doesn’t say anything and just shoves the door open. She looks around and falls to her knees. Me and Draco stand there in shock and then we hear her crying and we move around her. I kneel next to her and Draco stays standing (partly because he would struggle getting up).   
“Nia? We are so sorry, we didn’t mean to upset you.” I say calmly and touch her shoulder.  
“Are you kidding me! You guys don’t need to apologise.” She looks up with a tear smudge face at both of us. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. My dad always taught me wizards were bad but you guys have been nothing but nice since I met you. I don’t deserve all this.” She points around the room and continues to cry into her hands.  
“No, you deserve a lot more for what you’ve been though. And me and Harry will gladly give it to you, as long as you continue to be our friend and help us when we need you. And of course we will do the same.” Draco says and strokes her hair out her face.  
She hugs me and then gets up and hugs Draco. “Thank you so so so much guys. If you ever need a babysitter, I will be more than happy to help.” She chuckles while wiping her face.  
“Deal.” I tell her and laugh. “We’ll leave you to look around, this whole loft and everything in it is yours. Come down whenever you want, me and Draco are going to do some cleaning and de-weeding outside.” I tell her and walk towards Draco.  
“Okay, thank you again. It's beautiful and I will never be able to repay you. It means so much to me.” She hugs us again and we head downstairs. Draco grabs my hand and squeezes.  
“That was amazing.” He has tears in his eyes and a radiant smile on his face.   
“Yeah it was.” I kiss him quickly and drag him outside.   
4 o’clock come on quickly after that and people start arriving. Hermione and Ron get here first and give Nia some books, quills, and parchment as a present. Nia is beyond happy with that and thanks them.   
Next comes a surprise. Andromeda comes through the floo with Teddy.  
“Sorry Harry, I hope this is okay. He didn’t want to miss Nia’s birthday.” Andy says while being dragged towards us by a blue haired Teddy.  
“No problem Andy, the more the merrier. Are you staying too? There’s plenty of food.” I ask her. She doesn’t get out much and should enjoy herself.  
“Yes I think I will thank you.” Just then, Nia comes around the corner.  
“NIA!” Teddy runs and hugs her legs. “Happy birthday! How old are you? I’m 6 now.” Nia laughs and ruffles his hair.  
“Thanks Teddy! I’m 19 today. Wow, you're 6!” He nods his hair and then comes over to me and Draco while Andy goes over to Nia.  
“Hello, I’m andromeda, Teddy’s grandma. You can call me Andy if you want. Happy birthday.” She says and hugs her, which surprises Nia for about a second but then she hugs back enthusiastically.  
“Thank you so much. I love your grandson, he’s brilliant and so much fun.” They both laugh and have a chat.  
“Uncle Harry! Uncle Draco!” Teddy jumps on me and I pick him up.  
“Hey cub!” I kiss his head.  
“Hello Teddy.” Draco says then and hugs him from where he is attached to me, then kisses his head to. Teddy reaches for his stomach and strokes it gently.  
“How chéri?” He says best he can. I burst out laughing and Draco smirks at me.  
“What? It’s catchy.” He says to me. “chéri is perfect Teddy, thank you. Do you wanna know a secret?” He whispers to him, to which Teddy jumps down from me and holds Draco’s hand.  
“Yes please, uncle Draco.” Draco chuckles and bends down to Teddy’s height.  
“I felt the baby moving a few weeks ago.” He whispers and Teddy sucks in a breath and puts both his hands on Draco’s belly.  
“Can I feel?” He asks innocently.  
“Not yet, I’ve not felt anything from the outside yet. But as soon as I feel it on the outside, I’ll come round and show you. It should be soon, Deal?”  
“Oh yes please uncle Draco.”  
After Neville gets here, we all sit down outside at the picnic tables for the meal. I had asked what Nia wanted and ordered it. I would have cooked, but with so much going on I thought I wouldnt have time and I was probably right.  
“Are you excited to find out the babies genders?” Neville asks Hermione and Draco, who are the closest to him.  
“Very!” Hermione says and smiles widely.  
“Yes, I just want to get the nursery started.” A few people laugh at that and Neville nods along.  
“So Nia, what did Harry and Draco get you for your birthday?” Hermione asks her.  
“Oh you don’t know?” Nia seems surprised and looks from Hermione to me and Draco. “Well...they give me the loft. They decorated it and did the whole thing out so that I could move in there.” Everyone goes silent at this and Ron starts choking.  
“Yeah, she’s done so much for us lately and she’s still in the barn. We wanted to do something nice.” Draco smiles kindly and continues eating. Everyone seems to agree with this and carry’s on.  
“That’s a lovely thing to do Harry and Draco.” Andy says and smiles at us.  
“So is she living with you now?” Teddy asks.  
“Well sort off, she has her own floor in the house so she doesn’t have to be around us all the time.” I say to him and we both chuckle.  
“Yeah and hopefully she won’t get woken up by a screaming baby.” Draco cuts in and everyone laughs.   
After everyone has ate, Nia shows them her new room. They all love it and adore the moving paint. Then we all leave her to get ready to go out with her friends.  
“I picked out a nice dress for you to wear tonight. I hope you like it, it’s in the first wardrobe.” Draco tells Nia as he’s closing the door.  
“Thanks! You're the best.”  
After everyone has said their goodbyes and left, me and Draco sit on the pouch steps. He rests his head on my shoulder and kisses me.  
“This was a nice day.” He says and sighs happily.  
“Yeah it really was. One more party and we can get on with the house, and the nursery.” I grin at him.  
“I can’t wait.”  
Then Nia comes out the front door. She’s wearing a skin tight purple dress that stops just above her knees and shows her figure gorgeously. It's got spaghetti straps made of silver pearls and hugs her chest perfectly. Her hair is down in a neat afro and her makeup looks beautiful. She steps forward in her silver high heels and looks shy. She had silver pearls on her wrist to match her straps and a purple clutch in her hand.  
“Wow, you look beautiful Nia!” I tell her and then Draco turns around and sees her. He gets up and kisses her cheek.  
“Magnificent.”   
“Thank you guys.” She smiles.  
“Here’s some money, go out and enjoy yourself!” I hand her an envelope with £50 in and then her taxi pulls up. she tries to pull away from the money but I shove it at her. “Enjoy!” I tell her.   
She gets in the taxi and waves goodbye. we sit back down and watch the sun set.  
“I love you so much.” I tell Draco and kiss his head, where it’s back resting on my shoulder.  
“Love you to babe.” We sit there for a while just remembering the day and watching the beautiful sunset.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xXx

The next day.  
“So how's this going to work?” Katie asks us when Draco is lying down.  
“Don’t tell either of us. George is outside, so when you have finished the examination we will go outside and he will come in. Then tell him and hopefully he won’t tell us.” Me and Draco chuckle at that and then Katie joins in.   
“You are putting a lot of faith in him not telling you.” We laugh some more, but really we know he wouldn’t tell us even if we begged. “Right Draco, you ready?”  
“Yep.” He says and pulls his top up. His belly is getting really big now, he doesn’t let me see it much nowadays.  
“So little chéri is the size of a sweet potato at 20 weeks, and you're halfway through your pregnancy. Have you had any issues or concerns since I last saw you?” She asks Draco.  
“No not really, I’ve had a couple of nosebleeds, dizziness, headaches, feeling hot, pains in my side, saw breasts, and leg cramps. Everything that you warned me about basically.” He chuckles dryly.   
“All to be expected unfortunately. To go with that, from now on you may have sleeping problems and be more tired than you already are, you’ll get stretch marks, but you already seem to have a few of them so no need to worry, indigestion and heartburn, swollen feet, and also symptoms from early pregnancy may come back. Such as morning sickness, cravings, heightened sense of smell,and mood swings. So be prepared.” She winked at me then and continued to do spells on Draco and the baby.   
After about 10 minutes she declares she is finished and tells Draco he can get up.  
“Everything looks good Draco, but I’m a bit worried about your blood pressure. It’s lower than it should be. This is quite common and most of the time it will return back to normal. But it can be dangerous for you and the baby if you don’t listen.” Draco looks like he's not breathing and I’m not doing much better myself. “Some self-care things you can do are; avoid getting up too quickly, don’t stand for long periods, don’t take very hot baths or showers, drink lots of water, eat small meals throughout the day, and wear loose clothing if you can.” She takes a seat and shuffles some papers. She looks just as lost as us but she can handle it as she must do this everyday. “This might actually explain your dizziness and not the pregnancy. Other side effects are fainting, nausea, blurred vision, clammy or pale or cold skin, rapid or shallow breathing, and lack of concentration.”  
Draco takes a breath and nods. “Thank you healer Bell.” He says and gets up slowly then leaves without another word. I look from the door back at Katie.  
“Are they going to be okay?” I ask worriedly.  
“Yes I’m sure they are. As long as Draco does what I’ve asked and takes this potion once a day, then it will be alright.” She hands me a box of potions and some more leaflets on blood pressure.  
“Thanks Katie, I’ll send George in.” I get up and leave. George is at the door looking worried.  
“Harry, is everything okay? Draco walked off and he looked like he was crying.” He rings his hands nervously and looks worried.  
“Yeah it will be fine, Katie said you can go in. Where did Draco go?” He points down the hall and goes into the office.  
I go after Draco and find him in an empty waiting room with his head in his hands. His whole body is shaking from his crying. It may be silent but I can tell he is really upset. I sit down next to him and just hug him.   
After a couple of minutes he takes his head out of his hands and wraps himself around me to cry into my shoulder.  
“Babe, it’s going to be fine. There’s a potion for you and you're just gonna have to take things easy love.” I tell him and stroke his hair.  
“It’s my fault. I did too much and now our baby is in danger.” He says between crying and trying to breath.  
“Draco calm down. It’s not your fault, Katie said it’s common with first pregnancies. If you do everything Katie said and take your potion, then this will all go away and everything will be fine okay.”  
We sit there for another few minutes and then George comes around the corner clearly out of breath from looking for us. He sees that I’ve seen him and waits around the corner for us.   
“Come on love, lets go to grimmauld and watch some tv and have something to eat, yeah?” I tell him and lift his face. I wipe his face with my sleeve and kiss him. He nods and I help him stand.   
We go find George then.  
“All done?” I ask him.  
“Yep, all sorted. I’m meeting Hermione in 10 minutes and then I’ll go get things ready for tomorrow.” He says walking by our side.  
“Okay. Thanks George, we will see you tomorrow then.” I tell him, because Draco clearly is not up for talking and nobody is pushing him.  
“Okay see you tomorrow Draco, Harry.” Then he turns and goes in search of Hermione and Ron.   
When we get back to grimmauld, we do exactly what I said. We have a sandwich and a fruit salad and sit and watch tv. After 20 minutes Draco is fast asleep, curled up on me. So I decide to take a nap with him. He’ll be fine tomorrow, I’ll make sure of it.   
Draco is still bit down from yesterday's news but he is clearly excited about finding out the gender.  
“What shall I wear?” He asks me after going through all his clothes, that he keeps at grimmauld, about 10 times. “How about this? What are you wearing?”  
“I’m just wearing my jeans and a hoodie. Yeah you look nice in that, wear that.” At that he pauses and frowns at me.  
“You are not wearing your old jeans and a hoodie with holes in. Hold this.” He passes me his clothes and then goes through mine and pulls black skinny jeans out and a green shirt. “Here wear these. The top makes your eyes stand out and at least one of us can look nice.” I laugh at him but agree and get changed.   
When we get to the house, Nia comes down and greets us.  
“Hey guys! I didn’t see you yesterday, how did the scan go?” Draco sits down on the steps and I tell Nia what happened. She hugs Draco and tells him everything is going to be okay. He hugs her back but I can tell his heart isn’t in it.  
“Just don’t tell anyone please.” He says and gets up and goes over to the picnic table to sort some of the decorations.   
Me and Nia start sorting the bigger things and the food. Then George and Angelina and baby Fred arrive to set up the fireworks.   
“Hey Freddie!” I shout and go over.   
“Do you mind keeping an eye on him for a bit while we sort these Harry?” Angelina asks me.  
“I wish I could, but me and Nia are really busy.” I tell her and hug her and Fred.  
“I can do it.” Draco says in a small voice and takes Fred by the hand. He goes with him and they go and sit next to the flowers by the oak tree on the right.   
“Is he okay?” George asks. I nod while still looking over at him.  
“Yeah, he’ll be okay.” We all go off to get things done then.   
I keep an eye on Draco for the rest of the day. He seems fine with Fred, playing and laughing with him, but when he speaks to an adult it’s like he can't be bothered or something.   
By 5 o’clock most guests are here. We are just waiting for Luna and Ginny and also Ron and Hermione which is surprising. They are usually on time for everything thanks to Hermione.   
Then Ron and Hermione apparate in at the bottom of the drive and they look like they are arguing. I go to meet them halfway.   
“Hey guys, everything okay?” I ask them.  
“It would be if Ron could be on time for once!” Hermione says angrily and folds her arms. Her belly is so much smaller than Draco’s even though she is 6 weeks ahead of us.   
“Well I would be if someone hadn’t decided to hide my shoe!” Ron says back. “Bloody pregnancy brain!” He mumbles but Hermione clearly heard and turns devil eyes on him.  
“That is it Ronald! I have told you not to say that to me! I’m going home.” She turns to leave but I grab her arm.   
“Guys, I really need you right now. Please stay.” That seems to cool them both down and they turn to me with worried looks.  
“What happened?” Hermione asks while Ron says at the same time. “Is Draco and the baby okay?” I tell them what happened at the scan. I didn’t know how much I needed to talk to them until they were here.  
“Oh Harry I’m so sorry.” Hermione says and hugs me.  
“Yeah mate, I’m sure it's going to be fine.” Ron says and hugs me over Hermione.  
“Thanks guys, now let's go join the party.” I chuckle.  
After about an hour of everyone chatting and drinking George stands up on the table and gets everyone’s attention.  
“If you would all like to look up, the fireworks will start any minute. Hermione, Draco, who wants to go first?” Draco just shakes his head and Hermione giggles and grabs Ron's hand.   
“Guess it’s us.” She says and I go over to Draco. I sit on the steps next to him and put my arm over his shoulder, to which he leans in and takes my other hand.   
“Right! A blue baby for a boy, a pink baby for a girl. Everyone clear?” Everyone nods and looks up.  
Then there’s a big boom and suddenly there’s a big pink baby wrapped in a blanket in the sky. It’s eyes are closed and it has bright red hair sticking out the blanket. Everyone cheers and Hermione screams a little. Her and Ron kiss and hug and everyone congratulates them.  
“Ready Draco? Harry?” We nod and the second bang goes off. This time it’s a blue baby in the sky with blonde hair and green eyes. I burst out laughing and hug Draco closer. Then I realise I’m crying and so is Draco.  
“chéri is a boy.” I tell him while laughing and crying. He grabs my face and kisses me. Everyone is cheering but we are in our own bubble, just me, Draco, and our baby boy.  
“A boy!” He stops kissing me and has the most brilliant smile on his face. He wipes his tears and wraps his arms around me, which I copy.   
More fireworks go off then and we look up. We keep hold of each other and watch the display. There are babies everywhere and a huge congratulations, there's dummies and bottles and prams, and cots and teddy’s everywhere.   
After that is over, we sit down at the picnic tables. There is food and drinks everywhere and people are talking and laughing and congratulating us.   
“So, are you going for a joint baby shower as well then?” Molly asks.  
“Yes of course! Brilliant idea molly!” Hermione says excitedly. Draco rolls his eyes and smiles a tiny bit. I think he’s liked today more than he thought he would, I know I have. Everyone laughs at Draco’s eye roll.  
“Suppose I’ll have to now, thanks Molly.” He winks at her so she knows he’s joking and everyone laughs again.  
Teddy is playing with little lucy, who turned one last month, and Freddie and Molly II. While Bills kids, victoire, Dominique and Louis, are all playing together with Hermione. She has done the patronus charm and her otter is chasing them around. Nia is talking with Angelina and fluer, while Percy and Audrey are talking to molly and Arthur. Narcissa and Andy are standing off together watching Teddy playing. Bill, George, and Ron are setting up more fireworks. And me and Draco are sitting at the table, cuddled up together, watching everyone.   
“Shall we get a dog?” I ask Draco after seeing the kids with her otter. “Kids love pets.” He just looks up at me and raises his eyebrow.  
“No, we are not getting a dog.” He says it like it’s final but I’ll get through to him.   
Hermione comes over and sits next to Draco then. She places her hand on top of his and smiles.  
“So, about this baby shower…” I laugh and get up then.  
“Well I’ll let you two talk.” Draco glares at me and I can tell I’ll pay for this later, but I really don’t want to chat more party talk. I go over to Ron who has finished setting up the fireworks and is currently chasing victoire around the tree.   
“Hey.” He sees me and calls a time out. When he comes over, he is out of breath and bends over.  
“Give me a minute…. kids are hard to catch.” I snort and slap his back.  
“Yeah I bloody know mate. Who do you think has chased after Teddy all these years?” Andy walks past with Narcissa just then and raises an eyebrow at me, clearly having heard our conversation.  
“I do hope you're not calling me old Mr Potter?” She says and then carries on walking. Me and Ron burst out laughing and sit down with our backs against the tree.   
“Never Andy!” I shout after her.  
“Yeah, you did good for that kid mate.” Ron says to me. “You’ll be an expert with yours.”  
“You think?” I ask him.  
“Definitely! Merlin you’re having a boy! You’ll be fine. You should be worrying about me” He says and puts his hand on his head.  
“Yeah, good luck with that!” I laugh and he punches me jokingly. “A little hermione with your hair. I can imagine it.” We both laugh at that then.  
“I can’t wait mate. I thought I’d be terrified but I’m really not.”   
“Well you're a good uncle, so of course you’re going to be a good dad.”  
“Thanks mate. Merlin, we haven’t even thought about the wedding yet, I think we are going to wait until after the baby.” He snorts and we are silent for a minute, then I just blurt out calmly;  
“I proposed to Draco last week and he said yeah.” Then I smile and look at Draco. He is playing with Freddie and he looks amazing, I can’t get enough of him.  
“Wow! Mate!” He punches me again then. “That’s bloody fantastic, why didn’t you say anything?”  
“I don’t think we are telling anyone yet and I don’t mind it being our secret.”  
“Then why did you tell me?” I look at him and shrug my shoulders.  
“Dunno really, you’re my best mate. I tell you everything, and I know you are going to tell Hermione. But tell her to keep it to herself will you mate.” I tell him and then get up and hold my hand out for him. “Now, I think I want a dance with my boyfriend.”  
“Yeah, I should see where Hermione is. Congratulations by the way.” He slaps my back and goes off to find Hermione.  
I go over to Draco just as Fred runs off to chase Hermione's otter.   
“Will you dance with me?” I ask him and hold my hand out. To my utter surprise, he takes it.  
“Of course.” He smiles shyly at me and we go over to the oak tree, where I was just a minute ago. We can still hear the music over here but it’s softer and better to slow dance to. We lean into each other and begin swaying.   
“How’s the baby shower planning coming?” I ask him. He has his head on my shoulder facing my neck. He chuckles at that and smiles.  
“Just great thanks... Can we start thinking of names now?” He whispers in my ear.  
“Yeah, what are you thinking?” I ask him.  
“I don’t have any idea yet.” He chuckles into my neck again. We are still swaying together to the music. I have my eyes closed and am just thinking about Draco and the baby. We are in our bubble again even though I can hear the laughter and voices of the rest of our family.  
“Well we still have 20 more weeks to think.” He nods slowly and then the fireworks start and I open my eyes. It really is a beautiful night. The first half of this pregnancy has had its struggles and I’m sure the second half will have some, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is really cute at the end. Hope you like it! X

July 7th It’s been a month since we completed Nia’s loft, yet we still haven’t got far with the rest of the house. Since Nia’s room, we have only finished the master bedroom, the walk in cupboard, and one other bedroom. And we are yet to furnish anywhere else. By this rate, the baby will be here before we have a room for him. We need to finish the other 3 bedrooms, the laundry room, and the bathroom before we even think of furniture or wallpaper/paint. The outside looks a lot more presentable now. Neville is coming to finish the greenhouse with me today. Then it’s just the stables that need sorting but that can wait till last. As for all the fields and the old barn, where Nia lived, they will have to wait for when we are less hectic. I’ll get to them eventually but they aren’t my main concern as they are out of the way for now. That reminds me, the front of the house needs a new coat of paint and then weather and mould protection spells. As I’m coming downstairs, to get more cloths, I hear voices. “-have you got?” Draco asks but I only hear the end of whatever he asked. “There are probably about 100 overall. I’ve got this box and two more to go get, the rest are already in the greenhouse, then that's it. Just got to get them potted and placed.” Neville tells Draco. It surprises me that Draco isn’t hiding from him but this last month he has really taken to this pregnancy. I think last month really scared him with his low blood sugar, but we have seen Katie since and she said he is doing well keeping it under control. It’s still a risk but he’s doing well. “Wow, you’ll have to keep an eye on them. Make sure Harry doesn’t kill them off.” They both chuckle and I turn into the front room to see them. They are smiling and Draco has one hand on his baby bump and one hand on his back. They spot me then. “Speak of the devil.” Draco says and they both laugh again, which I join in with. “And I shall arrive.” I finish Draco’s saying and go and kiss him. “Hey Neville, do you want help with that?” I go over and take the box off him without waiting for a response. “Thanks Harry, I have 2 more boxes to get so I’ll be right back.” He says and goes back through the floo. “A hundred plants Harry? Really?” Draco raises his eyebrow at me but smirks. “Yep!” I say happily and walk towards the door. Draco follows me. “Why?” He asks. “Well some of them are pretty, some are things we will need, and some are for you. To carry on your potion inventions…..after you have given birth of course.” I tell him as he holds my shoulder for support coming down the porch steps. “Well… that was very nice of you.” He sniffs and points his chin up. “It’s why you love me.” I say winding him up a little, then kiss his cheek and put the box down outside the greenhouse. “Now you sit down in the greenhouse if you like, and I’m going to help Neville with the other boxes. I’ll be back in a tick.” He frowns a bit at that but I keep walking so he can’t start anything. Katie said his mood swings may come back and boy have they. The rest of the day is spent in the greenhouse with Neville and occasional Draco. We repot all the plants and place them in the best area. We have put a spell on the green house so that it is split into the 4 seasons of the year. One quarter is for winter plants, another is for autumn plants, another for summer, and the last for spring. Each plant has of course got it’s own temperature spell and self watering spell, but it’s best to keep the plants happy. Neville is just talking to me before he goes when Draco comes in to say goodbye. He looks a bit pale and clammy and I’m just about to tell him he should sit down. He starts to talk and then his eyes roll back and he falls to the ground. “Draco!” I shout and rush to him. He had fallen backwards onto the floor and I don’t know if he hit his head. “Merlin, is he okay Harry? Shall I call a mediwitch?” Neville asks, hovering over us. “Please Neville. Ask for healer Bell. Tell her to come now.” I tell him and try to wake Draco. A couple of minutes later, Katie arrives. By this time Draco’s head is resting on my lap and I’m stroking his hair. This is the only thing keeping me from panicking. “Harry what happened?” Katie asks and kneels down. I can’t talk and just keep shushing Draco while stroking his hair. “He just fainted. He came into the room, was about to talk, and his eyes just rolled back. Then he was on the floor. He may have hit his head.” Neville tells Katie, as they can both see I’m not going to talk anytime soon. “Okay. Harry, I’m going to do a couple of spells on Draco. I need to do one on his head, so I need you to put him down and move away.” Katie says slowly but I shake my head. “Harry, come on.” Neville says gently and pulls my arm up. I place Draco’s head on the floor softly and move away. As Katie is doing the spells I look away. I feel sick and I can feel my breath quickening. I place my hands on my knees and bend over. I try to slow my breathing but I won't be able to, not until I know he’s okay. There’s a buzzing in my ear now and can’t hear anything. “-okay. Harry? Can you hear me? I said Draco’s okay.” I stand up straight and turn to Draco and Katie. He’s sitting up and everyone is looking at me but I don’t give a damn. I rush over to him and fall to my knees next to him. I wrap myself around him and he does the same. “I’m okay, no need to get so worked up.” Draco says, half joking. I sniff into his neck and slap him lightly on the back. “The baby is fine too. I told you fainting could be a side effect. You obviously overdid it today and this was your body’s way of telling you to slow down and conserve your magic.” Katie tells Draco and gets up. “Now get some rest and I will see you both tomorrow.” “Thank you Katie.” I tell her and give her a smile. She nods and heads back through the floo.”I’ll leave you guys too. I’m sure I’ll see you soon” Neville says and gives a salute, then follows Katie through the floo. “Come on, let’s get you back to grimmauld.” Draco says to me and I frown at him confused. “I’m the one who should be putting you to bed, not the other way around.” I tell him and get up. “Yes but you just nearly had a panic attack and I’m clearly fine now.” He smirks and I help him up. “Whatever, let’s just get a chinese and go to bed.” He chuckles and we head for the floo. “How are you feeling after yesterday Draco?” Katie asks him as we walk into the examination room. “I’m totally fine thank you healer Bell, like I’ve told Harry 100 times over. It was like you said, I must have done too much yesterday.” Draco tells her, while sending me a glare and sitting on the bed. “How about you Harry? You okay?” She asks and looks at me. “Ermm..yeah I’m okay thanks Katie. I get panic attacks all the time.” I tell her with my head bent. “Yeah same. Who wouldn’t after what we’ve been through, right?” She smiles sadly at me and Draco and then starts writing things down. “So any other symptoms or side effects?” She asks Draco now, back to professionalism. “Other than fainting, I’ve felt nausea quite often but never actually been sick. I’ve definitely had clammy, pale and cold skin, sometimes all at the same time. My mood swings and craving are also back. Oh and I’ve been getting pains in the side of my stomach again, but you said they were normal so I’ve not worried.” He lists off. “Good, too much worrying is bad for chéri. Now at 24 weeks your baby is as big as a pomegranate. He’s still growing rapidly but is very comfortable for now.” She’s writing again and about to say something else when Draco interrupts. “Oh I’ve had nose bleeds as well.” He says thinking. Katie chuckles and nods. “Okay. Like I said, it’s all very common. Now, have you thought about a birth plan?” She looks from Draco to me then back again. We both have blank expressions though. “I’ll take that as a no. Things to decide are: where are you going to have the baby? At home or at st mungos? Do you want pain relief? If so, muggle or magical? Who do you want there? Also you need to keep in mind that we may have to operate if things start going wrong.” She stops writing then and looks at Draco. “With male pregnancies, we don’t like to do cesarean sections. Giving birth naturally really helps with the healing of your magic, and a cesarean can be quite dangerous. These are all things you need to think about Draco. Do you have any questions?” She looks at him and he shakes his head. She gets up suddenly then. “Good, let’s get on with the scan.” She smiles and Draco lies down. The rest of the scan proceeds as normal; we near the baby’s heartbeat, then we get to see him and get pictures to take home, then Katie does diagnostics. “Well everything seems fine. Remember to keep resting and I’ll see you in two weeks. If anything happens floo call me.” She says and opens the door for us. “Thank you healer Bell.” Draco says on his way out. “Thanks Katie.” I wink at her as I pass behind him. “Great, time to plan a baby shower with Hermione now.” Draco sulks at me on our way to the floo. “She’s probably already at Notre coeur by now.” “Well don’t ask for my opinion, I’ve got to get at least one of these 4 spare bedrooms finished today.” I shake my head. “You do realise one of those ‘spare bedrooms’ is going to be a nursery for our baby.” Draco says, using air quotations. “Yeah, I just don’t know which one yet.” Draco was right and Hermione was waiting for him when we got back. But what we didn’t expect was Nia. “Hey, you ready?” She asks me as soon as she sees us. “For…” I say, confused as hell. “For the meeting with mcgonagall…. you forgot didn’t you?” Shit yes. “No!” I tell her instead. “I’m ready when you are.” Draco snorts next to me and goes to join Hermione on the window seat. “Harry, you really need some furniture in here. These window seats are so uncomfortable.” Hermione says just as I’m heading back to the floo. “Yep, I’m on it Hermione.” I tell her, annoyed. The meeting with mcgonagall went great. Nia is learning quickly and improving everyday. She gave Nia more books and gave me a list of the next things that I need to teach her. We had a cup of tea with her and then off we went again. Hermione and Draco were on the front porch sitting on the steps. They each had a cup of tea which they must have got from Hermione’s house. I was just heading upstairs again to try get the bedroom sorted when Draco called me. “Harry? What do you think of this?” He shouted. I stopped and went back down the few stairs I had managed to climb. He’s telling me something but I can’t concentrate. This party stuff isn’t my thing. Then Hermione speaks. “Harry, you really should get at least a fridge for that kitchen. We couldn’t even make a cup of tea.” That's when I blow. “If you haven’t noticed Hermione, I’ve been sort of busy! What do you think I do all day? I’ve got a house to rebuild, decorate, and furnish, on my own! I've got a student who needs teaching magic from the beginning. I’ve got a 6 year old orphaned godson to keep up with. And if you haven’t noticed, I’ve got a very ill, very pregnant fiancé who fainted yesterday! So sorry if I haven’t had time to furnish to your liking yet!” I’m breathing fast and I stare at Hermione. She looks surprised and a bit upset. I cannot deal with another pregnant person crying today. I turn around and head upstairs. As I’m reaching the top I hear Nia. “I didn’t know you guys were engaged, congratulations.” Then I slam the door behind me. I was finishing my second bedroom of the day when Draco came to get me. I hadn’t even realised it had gone dark. “Hermione’s gone and Nia’s at work, are you ready to go?” He looks upset with me so I sigh and turn to him. “Draco, I’m really sorry for shouting. I-“ He cuts me off with a hand up and I think he’s about to start having a go but he surprises me. “Harry, it’s fine. I know how stressed you are, and it kills me everyday not being able to help you out more. Hermione has been nagging all day and it was about time someone told her off. She didn’t understand how much pressure you are under.” I get up and he hugs me. “I really do wish I could help, you know?” “I know love. But you just keep our baby safe and I’ll do the rest.” He smiles at me and we share a long sweet kiss. “Come on, it’s my bedtime.” Draco says and starts pulling me. The next morning Draco wakes me up with a blow job. I quickly return the favour and then lie down next to him again. “Happy anniversary.” Draco says, breathing hard. Shit! I forgot! Well I didn’t forget, and I got him a present, but I forgot what day it was today. “Happy anniversary!” I tell him and sit up. He pushes me back down and puts his arm over my chest to stop me getting back up. “Harry, relax. I don’t care if you forgot. Today you are having a break. We are not doing anything all day. We are going to stay in this house, watch tv, order pizza, and take a bath. Understood?” He tells me and strokes his belly at the same time, which makes the threat less demanding. “Okay then.” I breath out. So that’s all we do all day. We relax. First we had a bath together, so the day started off good. Then we had breakfast and watched tv with our feet up. Then we both did some reading for a bit. For lunch we warmed Mollys lasagne up and ate it in bed with the tv on in our room. After lunch we played a game of chess and then we both took a nap. By the time we woke up, it was tea time. We did as Draco said and ordered pizza. “What shall we do now?” I ask Draco about 20 minutes after finishing our pizzas’. “I want you to come to Notre coeur with me. Please? I have a surprise waiting for you.” He gets up and urges me to do the same. “Fine but this better not be a prank or I will have to destroy you.” I get up and give him a kiss. He snorts and leads me to the floo. When we get to the house, Draco takes my hand and leads me upstairs. “Dray, what are we doing here?” I whine to him. “Today was meant to be relaxing.” “Just trust me okay.” We get to the top of the stairs and he shoves me towards the master bedroom. “In there.” He points. I go to the door, open it and pause with one foot in. The whole bedroom is finished. It has been painted and wallpapered and furnished. I stand there gobsmacked. “What- how- what?!” I stutter out. My hand is still on the door knob and I’m completely frozen. “Happy anniversary babe.” He comes up behind me and puts his arms around my waist. Then he kisses my neck and places his chin on my shoulder. I can feel his belly on my back. “How?” I ask him. “Well after your outburst yesterday, Hermione gave me an idea. She said you need some help, so I spent the day talking to luna and Ginny and Fleur and George. I asked them for help and told them exactly what we wanted. They were more than happy to help.” I turn around and kiss him hard. “You are fucking amazing.” I tell him and turn back around to inspect. “I know.” He says. “We could live in here now if we wanted, but I’d rather wait till it’s finished if that’s okay.” I nod and go to see the bathroom. “Also, they said anytime you need help just ask.” He sits on the bed and watches me. “Draco, this is great and such a relief. Thank you so much.” I kiss him again and sit next to him. “What would I do without you eh?” I chuckle to him. “Die probably.” He laughs back. “Come on.” He gets up and grabs my hand. “I have one more surprise.” He takes me to the bedroom opposite the stairs, the closest to our room. He tilts his head in a way of telling me to go in. So I open the door and look in awe. This room which was nothing has now been transformed into a nursery for our baby boy. There’s a magical beasts’ theme and there are moving animals all over the walls. There is a white coat, a white changing table, a little white wardrobe and draws, and in the corner is an old looking white rocking chair which I recognise instantly, with the dragon heartbeat teddy on it. “Is that my mother's rocking chair? From Godric's hollow?” I ask him although I know the answer. I go over to it and run my fingers along the top. “Yeah, I asked Luna to go get it for us.” I have tears in my eyes now when I turn around to face him. “Draco… I… I don’t know what to say. This is so lovely and nice. Thank you so much.” I kiss him again and I put as much feeling into it as possible. “You’re welcome.” He says softly. He smiles back at me and is also crying now. “I didn’t forget about our anniversary by the way. I just forgot what day it was today. So, I have something for you to.” I go in my pocket and pull out the ring box. His eyes go wide and he gasps. “I wanna do it properly this time.” I get down on one knee and hold the box open to him. “Draco Malfoy, will you do me the honour of marrying me?” He’s crying more now and he nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Of course, yes!” I take the ring out and place it on his ring finger, then I get up and kiss him. He looks at the ring closer then and frowns a little. “Why is there a tiny diamond constellation?” He asks while still smiling and frowning. I won’t tell him the real reason right now, I'll save that one. “It’s my star sign. So I’m kinda always with you.” I smile goofily at him. He just laughs and kiss me. “I love it.” Then he gasps suddenly and his eyes shoot open. “What?!” I ask him panicked. He grabs my hand and places it on his stomach. I’m slightly confused and worried for a minute. Then I feel it, and I make the same reaction as Draco. “He’s kicking!” I say, amazed. “Yeah!” Draco say, also placing his hand on his stomach. “This is the best day ever.” I tell Draco and lean down to kiss his belly. “It really is.” He says stroking my hair. “Teddy is going to be so jealous he wasn’t here to feel it.” I say and we both laugh. “Merlin, I love you so much Draco. And you to chéri.” “I love you both too.” Draco says and pulls me up for another kiss. I really don’t know how I got so lucky.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set in the past and is quite sad. X

It’s been 2 months since the end of the war. People are grieving for their lost loved ones. Shopkeepers are having to start from scratch with their businesses. Hogwarts is trying to be rebuilt. And children are learning to grow up without their parents. This includes my 3 month old godson Teddy Lupin.  
It’s hard to be around him at the moment. It's hard to be around anyone. Everyone is moving on and rebuilding, but I can’t. So many good people died in that stupid war and it’s not fair that I got to live.  
I start panicking if I even think about leaving the house. Hermione and Ron come over sometimes, but most the time I pretend I’m sleeping or not home. I know these are signs I need help, but I just can’t talk about it yet. I need more time. But Teddy needs me, Andromeda needs me. So some days I manage to get out. Like today.  
I promised Andromeda I would babysit Teddy for a couple of hours while she got the house cleaned and did some shopping.  
She’s really struggling to keep going herself. I can see the same tiredness in her eyes that I see in mine. But she keeps going for Teddy. She knows the baby needs her.  
I put my shoes on, take a deep breath and head for the floo. I don’t want to apparate because that would mean stepping outside the door, and I can’t bear to do that. Especially considering there is always a reporter or two waiting outside to ask me questions and take photos of ‘the saviour’.  
I fall through the floo into Andromeda’s sitting room. I’m instantly assaulted by screaming cries. I lookup and see a messy, tired looking andromeda trying to shush a screaming Teddy.  
“Oh Harry. I think we should leave today. I was going to call you, Teddy isn’t very happy today. I don’t want you to have to deal with this.” She looked like she was about to cry or scream herself.  
“It’s fine Andromeda. Please, let me help.” I tell her and walk towards them. I hold my hands out and she passes me Teddy.  
“Thank you so much Harry. I will be as quick as I can.” She hugs me and kisses my cheek. Then she leaves to go do her jobs.  
“Now now little cub, stop your crying.” I bounce him lightly in my arms and grab the bottle that Andromeda left on the side “are you hungry?” I ask him and put the bottle in his mouth. He just spits it out and screams louder. “Do you need a nappy change?” I check his nappy quickly but it’s clean. “I know!” I grab my wand and make some bubbles. Then I turn the bubbles into different animals and make them go in a circle above Teddy’s head. He stops crying instantly and waves his arms trying to catch the animals. “Phew.”  
About an hour later, I’m giving Teddy his bottle when I hear the door open. I figure it’s Andromeda so I don’t bother getting up. I’m sitting in the armchair feeding Teddy and it’s sort of relaxing. Next thing I hear stops the relaxing feeling and panic sets in.  
“Potter?!” Malfoy says from the door. I look up and frown.  
“What are you doing here Malfoy?” I say to him angrily and hold Teddy closer to me.  
“I’m here to see my aunt and cousin. What are you doing here?” He sneers at me, still stood at the door.  
“I’m babysitting my godson if you can’t see.” I tell him and look down at Teddy. He’s almost asleep now, occasionally sucking on the bottle.  
“Whatever, where is my aunt Andromeda?” He says and turns to leave.  
“I don’t know. She’s either shopping or cleaning. You find her yourself Malfoy.”  
“You don’t know much, do you Potter? Just like in school.” He says and walks off.  
“Twat.” I shout at him, waking Teddy up in the process. Shit.  
He starts crying again and I hush him. Then he goes back to sleep and I place him in his Moses basket next to the chair. I put my head in my hands and try breathing more slowly. Why is Malfoy here?! What if he harms Teddy or Andromeda? Or tries to kill me again?  
I don’t know how long I was sat there thinking and breathing, but next thing there is a hand on my shoulder. I jump and look up. It’s Andromeda with a worried look on her face.  
“Harry dear, I was calling you.”  
“Sorry Andromeda’s, is everything okay?” I ask her and look over to Teddy. He’s still asleep in his basket.  
“Please call me Andy, Harry. Everything is fine, I’m finished with my jobs if you want to go home.” She says and strokes my hair.  
“Is Malfoy still here?” I ask her with a frown.  
“Yes, he’s staying for dinner. Would you like to stay?”  
“Yes I think I would please Andy.” She nods and tells me to come through with Teddy.  
Malfoy is already sat down and Andy is just sittin when I come in with a still sleeping Teddy in my arms. Draco freezes and glares at me.  
“Why are you still here?” He says.  
“Why are you?” I return. We both stare at each other after I’m sat and then Andy sighs.  
“Boys please. Can we just have a nice dinner together.”  
We spend the rest of the dinner in silence and then we both leave. Draco leaves first so I talk to Andy.  
“Why are you inviting him here?” I ask her and hand Teddy over.  
“He is my nephew Harry. He has helped me a lot the past couple of months.” She says slowly and gives a sad smile.  
“Like how?” I ask harshly.  
“He has helped me cook and clean and babysat Teddy. He is great with him. He’s helped me with the funerals and he has been a shoulder to cry on when nobody else has been here!” She says angrily now. Andy hardly ever gets angry and never at me. “He has been very nice and a big help. He has changed since your school days, so you both just need to grow up.” She finishes and huffs.  
“I’m so sorry Andy.” I deflate and sit down with my head in my hands. Then the tears come. “I’m so sorry I haven’t helped you with all that. I’m sorry I couldn’t help with the funerals. I just couldn’t. But you had to and I should have been a man and helped you. But instead I spend all my time in bed and can’t sleep through the night without seeing one of their faces. Tonks, Remus, Fred, Sirius, Dobby, Severus, Dumbledore, even Colin and Lavender.” I’m really crying now and think I’m on the brink of a panic attack. Then someone coughs from the doorway and I look up.  
“I’m so sorry, I forgot my coat.” It’s malfoy. Great, he’s seen my crying like a girl. I’ll never live this one down.  
I get furious all of a sudden and get up. I grab his coat and throw it in his face. Then I go over to the floo and shout my address. Andy tries saying something but I don’t hear it. I’m already home.  
I don’t see anyone or leave the house for the next week. I don’t get much sleep and I hardly eat. I just lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. I haven’t showered all week because what’s the point. What’s the point of anything anymore? I should have died when Voldemort threw the killing curse at me.  
I’m thinking about death and dying and I’m crying, when there's a knock at my bedroom door. The door opens and it’s Hermione. On seeing me she starts crying.  
“Oh Harry. Why do you do this to yourself?” She sits on the end of my bed and I roll over so she can’t see my face. “Talk to me please Harry. I’m your friend. Me and Ron are worried to death about you.” She says and I can hear the tears in her voice.  
“Well that's just it isn’t it, Hermione. You shouldn’t have to worry about me, because I shouldn’t be here.” I tell her, still crying myself.  
“Harry, don’t talk like that. You’re depressed, you just need help.”  
“I don’t need anything, just leave me here to die please.” That’s when she hits me.  
“Harry Potter! Don’t you dare ever say that to me again! I am not going to leave you here to… well I’m not going to leave you here. Now get up and get in that shower, you stink. Then get something to eat because you look skinnier than when you started at Hogwarts. Then you are coming downstairs and you are going to speak to the nice lady I brought with me.” She declares and gets up.  
“I’m not speaking to a head shrink!” I shout and cover my head with the quilt. Then I start crying again. “Please Hermione, I can’t. Don’t make me.” I feel her lie next to me then and hug me from behind.  
“Harry…. I know everything hurts but if you don’t speak to someone soon then you never will. Everyone is so worried about you. Andromeda says Teddy has been crying for you and she misses you too.”  
“Teddy cry’s all the time, he doesn’t even know me. He’s a baby.” She takes the quilt off my head and makes me turn around. We are both crying and I can tell she’s worried but I just don’t care right now. I know that’s a bad thing but I don’t care.  
“Please Harry. Just do me one last favour. Don’t leave.”  
She holds me while we cry for another 10 minutes and then helps me up. I’m really weak and she has to help me to the bathroom. But as soon as she lets me go my knees crumble and I nearly fall. We look at each other and decide she’s going to have to help. We lived together in a tent for months so it’s not like we haven’t seen each other naked. Plus I can’t think long enough to care about it.  
She runs the bath and sits me on the toilet. Then she helps me get undressed and get into the bath.  
“Right, you get washed and I’m going to make you a sandwich. I’ll be back in 10 minutes to help you out, okay?” She says gently. I nod at her and she leaves. I place my head against the back of the bath and just lie there for a minute. Then I start washing myself because I know that if I am not washed by the time she comes back up, then she will wash me herself and I don’t want that.  
When she comes back I am just finishing my hair. I’ve not got enough energy to lift my hands for long though and she takes over. She is very gentle with me and massages my scalp.  
“Thank you Hermione.” I say quietly. She strokes the side of my face and gives me a sad smile.  
After helping me get dried and dressed, she helps me downstairs. I’m feeling a little better already. She sits me down at the kitchen table and slides a plate over to me. It has a sandwich on and some crisps and a chopped apple. I have to force it down but once I’m halfway through I start feeling how hungry I was. When I’m nearly finished Hermione offers me another sandwich, which I gratefully accept.  
“Are you ready?” She asks when I’m finished. I nod and we go through to the sitting room where a small plump woman, who reminds me of professor sprout, sits quietly.  
“Do you want me to stay or wait in the kitchen?” Hermione asks. I look at her and open my mouth but I can't speak.  
“Don’t worry Mr Potter, we won’t be doing much speaking about yourself today.” The woman says and so I just pat the space next to me for Hermione to sit down.  
An hour later she was leaving. She had done most of the talking, like she said she would. She said she was going to come next week and I’d have to start talking then, which I agreed to. Maybe this would help, I did feel better already.  
Hermione came to check on me everyday for the next week. To make sure I had showered and eaten. Ron even came one day and we just watched the tv together but it was nice.  
Over the next few weeks, the shrink came every Wednesday, Hermione came most days, and Ron came a few times. I still had my bad days and the rest of the days weren’t great, but I wasn’t thinking about my own death anymore.  
Then the day came where Hermione convinced me to go see Andy and Teddy. I agree just to shut her up and then floo to Andy’s. And of course Malfoy is sitting on the sofa feeding Teddy a bottle of milk. I freeze and start to panic again. I shouldn’t have come. I should have called first. I shouldn’t be here with him. He’s evil and I’m good and we can’t be together without trying to kill each other. I don’t want to die anymore.  
Just then, something Sirius said comes to me. ‘We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.’ And he was right. Malfoy clearly had good in him, he was feeding Teddy and helping Andy. Maybe he was changing.  
He is still frowning at me when I calm down and simply incline my head to him.  
“Malfoy. Have you seen Andy around?” I ask him as politely as I could. His eyes go wide for a second and then his eyebrow goes up.  
“Haven’t seen you around for a few weeks Potter, have you been rolling around in all your fame?” He sneers at me, but I don’t take the bait.  
“No I’ve been… well, ill really. I nearly killed myself.” I don’t know why I tell him this but it seems right and I’m not ashamed. “Andy?” I say then, referring to my question. Draco is just staring at me now with a look of shock and confusion. Then he stutters out “kitchen.” And that’s where I head.  
“Andy.” I say, feeling ashamed for not seeing her in so long. She whirls around and rushes to me.  
“Merlin, Harry! I was so worried.” Then she pulls me back to look at me. “You’ve lost so much weight. Are you alright?” I pull her in for another hug and nearly start crying. Then I tell her everything that happened and that I’m seeing a mind healer now. She’s crying by the end and hugs me again.  
“You silly boy. What would I do if you weren’t here? Teddy wouldn’t have a godfather then. That’s someone else he would grow up without.” She says and takes my hand.  
“I know I’m sorry-“ then Teddy starts crying but he’s right behind us. Me and Andy turn to see Draco standing there looking pale.  
“I..I’m … I’m so sorry.” He says and turns to leave.  
“It’s fine. May I hold Teddy please?” I ask him before he goes. He nods and turns around to give me the baby. He is still crying but as soon as Draco puts him in my arms he stops. He opens his eyes and they turn green, then his hair goes black. I gasp and look at Andy.  
“I told Hermione to tell you he was missing you.” She says with a small smile.  
“He’s never done this before.” I tell her and stare at the baby. “I missed you too, little cub.” And I kiss his head.  
I look up at the sound of the door shutting. Draco must have just left. Oh well, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ and all that. Maybe one day we will talk nicely to each other, maybe even be friends. I laugh to myself thinking that maybe one day I will be ‘Harry’ to him and he’ll be ‘Draco’ to me. Yeah right, when dragons swim.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it <3 X

July 31st.  
For my birthday, Draco, Hermione and Ron took me and Teddy to the beach. Me and Draco love the beach and we love to swim. The first time Draco called me Harry was when we were swimming with Teddy at the local swimming baths.  
Draco got me the newest broom as a present, after me telling him not to get me anything. But he said that if I’m allowed to buy him birthday presents, then he is allowed to buy me birthday presents. I couldn’t really argue with that logic. So me and Ron had spent all morning at the house trying it out.  
I help Draco get comfy on a towel and then sit next to him. We are at a wizards only beach so Draco doesn’t have to put a glamour on his belly.   
“Teddy, come get some sun cream on please.” He comes over but stomps his feet on the way and huffs.  
“Do I have to?”  
“Yes, otherwise you will burn like Ron over there.” Draco says to him, pointing to Ron lying in the sun already.  
“He’s right, Ron never puts sunscreen on and he always burns. He hasn’t put any on today either.” Hermione says and hits Ron. “You are meant to be setting a good example.” She hisses at him.  
“Oh right yeah, sun cream.” Hermione passes him soon and he lathers himself in it and lies back down.   
“Your turn cub.”   
An hour later I decide I want to go in the sea.   
“Hey babe, you coming in the water?” I ask Draco, sitting up.  
“Definitely! I’m boiling.” I help him and we go down to the shore. Rons down here with Teddy building sandcastles.   
“Are you going in the sea? Can I come too?” Teddy stands up and runs to us.  
“Of course Teddy.” Draco tells him and ruffles his hair which goes from blue to white blonde.   
“Might want to go keep your pregnant fiancé company mate.” I shout back over my shoulder to Ron.  
“That’s so much better.” Draco says as soon as he is chest high in. Teddy is swimming next to me and I have one hand out in case he needs me. He won't though because he’s a good swimmer and we aren’t going any further out. I go round the back of draco and he leans on me. “God this feels so good. Why didn’t we do this before?” Draco asks dazily.  
“It wasn’t my birthday before.” I shrug and chuckle. Teddy giggles next to me and then climbs onto my shoulders. Then he starts singing happy birthday loudly.  
“Happy birthday to you! Happy-“ I cut him off.  
“Yes thank you Teddy, you’ve sang that 3 times today already.” He laughs and kisses the top of my head. That makes me chuckle because it’s usually the other way around.   
When we head back up to the towels Hermione and Ron are waiting with cupcakes. One has a candle in it and they start singing happy birthday. Teddy immediately joins in at the top of his lungs and even Draco joins in. He then kisses me and I blow the candle out.  
“Thanks guys, this has been a great birthday.” They smile at me and we all sit down to eat our cupcakes. 

August 5th.  
“How did the scan go?” Nia says excitedly, coming down the stairs.  
“Really good. Are you ready for your lesson?” I ask her.  
“Oh yeah, let me get my wand.” She starts going up the stairs but I stop her.  
“Nia what have I told you? You should always have your wand on you.”  
“I know but I don’t have pockets, plus I was coming to ask how the scan was.” She smiles at me but I take it further. Draco knows where this is going so takes a seat on the stairs. He won’t be able to get up from there without my help. His belly is huge now.  
“But what if it was an intruder?”I ask Nia.  
“I could hear you guys, that’s why I came down.” She says and huffs.  
“What if someone had taken polyjuice potion?”  
“Which one is that again?” She asks, slightly confused. I throw my hands up.  
“And that's what today’s lesson is about. Go grab your wand.” I tell her and she runs up the stairs. “Come on you.” I help Draco up and give him a kiss. “Where are you sitting today?” Now we have a bed here, he has been in there most days. Which is good, he needs to relax more.  
“I’ll sit on a cushioning charm on the grass and watch you two.” He tells me and we go outside.   
I get him comfy and then accio the books and parchment for today’s lesson. Nia comes rushing out then with her wand in hand. She might not even need it this time but she needs to learn to keep it with her. We sit down at the picnic table and begin the potions lesson, starting with polyjuice potion.  
Just as the lesson is coming to an end I hear a pop of apparation. I turn around expecting Hermione but instead find Andy and Teddy. I get up and Teddy runs for his hug. I shush to him and point to Draco who is asleep on the grass.   
“Hey Andy, you okay?” I ask her as she gets to me.  
“Hello Harry, sorry for just popping in. We’re fine thank you. Teddy just wanted to see how the house is going.” She says and sits down next to Nia, as I take my seat with Teddy on my lap. “Hello Nia darling.” She says quietly. We are all talking in hushed tones as not to wake Draco.  
“Well I’m just finishing this lesson up and then how about I show you and grandma around?” I ask Teddy. He nods quickly and I chuckle.  
I finish with Nia and she gets on with the questions I set her. Then I take Andy and Teddy into the house. I take them to the nursery last.  
“Oh wow, Harry it’s beautiful.” Andy says and takes a step inside. Then Teddy runs in and climbs on the rocking chair, moving the dragon teddy into his lap. He starts rocking really fast so I rush in and hold it still.  
“Teddy be careful with that please. It was my mother’s.” I tell him and he looks at me with knowing eyes. From one orphan to another.   
“I’m sorry uncle Harry. I’ll be careful.” He says and starts rocking again but gently. He looks at the arm with love and strokes it. “It’s very lovely. Was your mummy a nice lady?” Teddy often asks hard questions like this but I don’t mind talking to him because he understands.  
“So I’m told. I was only 1 when she died, but your daddy knew her. He was best friends with my dad and he told me a bit about them.” I get down to my knees and speak to him.  
“Like you tell me stuff about my mummy and daddy?” He asks happily.  
“Yep just like that.”  
“But my daddy isn’t here anymore, so who tells you about your mummy and daddy now?” He looks concerned at that so I pick him up and sit down on the rocking chair with him on my knee. Andy must have slipped out at some point. I think for a moment before answering.  
“Well… nobody anymore. Almost everyone who knew them is gone now. But a lot of people told me about them in the past, so I just remember. I remember everything everyone told me and when I miss then, I just think of those memories.” He hugs me then.  
“Don’t be sad uncle Harry, I’m still here.” He says and I tickle him till he giggles.  
“Yes you are. And I’ve got lots of friends and family to go to when I’m sad. Just like you.” He smiles and we sit there rocking for a little longer.  
We must have fallen asleep rocking because next thing, Draco is waking me up.  
“Hey love. Aunt Andromeda has gone home, I said we will have Teddy for the night.” He whispers, trying not to wake Teddy for a minute. I nod and he gives me a kiss.   
“What time is it?” I ask him.  
“2. Do you and Teddy want to come to whipped for lunch? Nia just invited me.”  
“Yeah sure. You’ll have to put a glamour on though.” I tell him and he nods in agreement.  
“Yeah, and we will have to apparate there because there is no way I can walk that far.” I chuckle and nod.  
“Hey cub. Wakey wakey.” He stirs and parts his eyes.  
“Hmmm.” He says sleepily.  
“Do you wanna sleep at grimmauld tonight with me and uncle Draco?” He shoots awake at that and grins.  
“Yes please!” I laugh and kiss his head.  
“Okay, come on. We are going to Nia’s cafe for some lunch.”  
“Yeah and remember no magic in front of the muggles.” Draco says from the doorway.  
When we get back from lunch Nia offers to help with some decorating. We have picked out all the colours and wallpapers for the house but just have to get them up now. All the furniture has been ordered and is on it’s way. We just have to decorate and then build the furniture and we will basically be done. I’m bringing a few things from grimmauld but Draco doesn’t want anything from the manor. After that we just have to pack our things and move in. And done!   
We start in the front room. The wallpaper is going on one wall and we have to paint the rest, which Teddy has kindly offered to start. While me and Nia are figuring out the wallpaper, Draco and Teddy are sitting on the floor painting the bottom of the wall. A couple of hours later and the wallpaper is done plus the bottom half of the wall has been painted. Me and Nia turn our attention to the wall and by the time we are done it looks great.   
“I’m hungry.” Teddy says then. We all chuckle and call it a day.  
“Thanks for your help Nia.” I tell her as she’s going to get ready for work.   
“Your welcome. Anytime Harry.”  
It takes Teddy a while to settle down for bed that night after tea. He was too excited about sleeping here that he was basically bouncing off the walls. But eventually we got him off to sleep and got in bed ourselves.   
“So...considering the baby shower is tomorrow, I’m going to ask you something.” I say to Draco and turn to face him.  
“What?” He asks cautiously.  
“Leo?” I say.  
“What?” He looks confused.  
“Leo.” I repeat, to which he rolls his eyes.  
“Like the constellation.” He raises his eyebrow and continues to stare at me.  
“Like the name?” I say and put my hand on his belly. “I know your family goes for constellations and Leo is my star sign. Which I didn’t know until I looked up the name. So I just thought it would be nice.” He looks down at his ring and I answer his unspoken question. “Yes that’s why I got your ring done like that. This baby has brought us closer than ever so I just thought he should be a part of this engagement. But if you don’t like the name I can get you a new ring.” He kisses me then to shut me up I think.  
“I love it. Harry Potter, you are such a romantic.” We laugh and we kiss again. Then he places his hand next to mine on his belly and talks to the baby. “How about that Leo?” Then he pauses for a second and looks at me. “Leo James potter?” He asks shyly.   
“Really? Are you sure?” He nods and we kiss. Then Leo kicks again and we pull apart and laugh.  
“Guess he agrees with that name too.” Draco smiles and we both settle down to sleep.  
The next morning goes quickly. I give Teddy a bath and some breakfast then we all head to the new house. Draco goes back to bed and I give Nia her lesson. Teddy plays with his toys from grimmauld while I’m teaching. After that we start painting the hallway. The party is at 2 o’clock, so we don’t have time to do a whole room.  
We finish at 1 and I scourgify all of us clean of paint. Draco came down about half an hour ago and started helping. I help him up and take him and Teddy back to grimmauld to get changed.   
At 2 o’clock we floo to the burrow. Draco hasn’t worn his ring around anyone yet or told anyone. His mother and Ron and Hermione and Nia know but that’s it. Until now. He has put it on and said he’s ready to tell people but only if they notice.   
“Harry! Draco! Teddy! Hello dears. Everyone’s outside, we are just waiting on Ginny and Luna as usual.” She chuckles and shows us outside.   
It looks like a big blue balloon has popped on one side and a big pink balloon has popped on the other side. There is a huge stack of presents either side of the buffet table. There are banners and balloons and food everywhere. There is even a bouncy castle for the kids, which Teddy has just spotted and runs for.   
“Harry. Draco!” Hermione shouts over from one of the benches placed around the garden. We go over and Ron gets up and gives me a hug and then surprisingly gives Draco one too.   
‘Hey! How’s it going?” He asks us.  
“Really good thanks Ron. How are you two?” I ask him and me and draco sit on the bench next to theirs. It is placed at a right angle so we can all see each other.  
“Yeah we are good thanks mate-“ Ron says but Hermione interrupts with a squeak.  
“Draco, you have your ring on!” She whispers and looks around to make sure nobody sees.  
“I know.” He says confidently and lifts his chin slightly.  
“Wait, so are you telling people now?” Ron asks, looking confused.  
“No, but if they see it I’m not going to deny it.” He smiles at me and I take his hand.  
“Bloody hell.” Ron says and Hermione smacks him. Me and Draco snort and I give him a kiss.  
Ginny and Luna arrive 15 minutes later and Molly gets everyone's attention.  
“We are going to start the games now, everyone come around here please.” She tells them and points to around us. “Right George you take over.”  
“The first thing we are going to do is guess the baby name. We obviously won't find this out until after the babies are born, but it’s fun and might give the parents some ideas.” He accios a white board over and a pen and then looks around. I see Draco discreetly turn his ring around so nobody can see the stars. “Who’s first?” George asks everyone.  
“Albus! For Harry and Draco.” Ginny shouts.   
“Good guess little sister.” He says and writes it on our side of the white board.  
“James.” Andy says after whispering to Teddy. I smile at him as George writes it down.  
“Grace, for Hermione and Ron.” Audrey says quietly.   
Other names for Hermione and Ron are : Amelia, Isabelle, Emily, Monica after Hermione's mother, and rose after her grandmother.  
Other names for us included: Sirius, Scorpios, Jamie, Oliver, Orion, and Perseus. Ginny was just trying for weird constellation names so therefore lucked out.  
“Okay, next we are going to guess the size of the bellies!” George announces and points to Hermione and Draco. He instantly looks furious and glares at George.  
“No!” He says and crosses his arms. He shrinks back a bit and looks at Hermione. She just shrugs.  
“I don’t mind.”   
After that game and a few others, Molly announces that food is ready.  
“Do you want me to grab you a plate?” I ask Draco. He smiles and nods.  
“Please love.”  
Ron must have asked the same because he follows me while Hermione stays with Draco. She is a lot bigger now but still smaller than Draco, which was confirmed when she was measured.  
“How’s Draco doing mate?” Ron asks as we are both getting two plates of food.  
“He’s doing a lot better thanks. Katie said the baby is perfect and as long as Draco keeps up with the potions and relaxing, then everything will be fine. How’s Hermione.” I tell him and he smiles.  
“Good! I’m so glad. Hermione’s fine, she’s her usual self except with a bigger belly and occasional sickness. It’s shit that Draco has it so bad.” I agree with him.  
As we are finishing filling the plates, someone screams and we both whip around. But it’s only Angelina and Fleur. But why are they screaming next to Draco.   
Then I see Angelina has Draco’s hand in hers and is looking at his ring. I roll my eyes.  
“Well that didn’t take long.” I say to Ron and we make our way back towards our fiancés’.  
“Good luck mate.” Ron whispers and sits back down next to Hermione and gives her the plate of food.   
I sit down next to Draco and pass him his plate.  
“Merlin Harry, why didn’t you tell us!” Angelina says and lets go of Draco so he can eat.  
“Because it was a secret.” I tell her and start eating myself.  
“It iz beautiful.” Fleur says in her French accent.   
They go off and presumably tell everyone because by the time we get to the present opening, nearly everyone has congratulated us and looked at the ring.   
You had to wear it today didn’t you?” I tell Draco sarcastically.  
“Fine, I’ll take it off shall I?” He threatens. I grab his hand quickly and place a kiss on the ring.  
“No love! Never take it off again.” He blushes and kisses my cheek while whispering.  
“Never.”  
First we open our present from Molly and Arthur. There is a little blue knitted jumper on the top. Then some glass bottles for feeding, some baby grows, some sweets and chocolates, and a few knitted blankets. One green, one red, and one a mix of the two colours.  
“Molly, these are beautiful. Thank you so much.” Draco says and holds the little jumper to his belly.   
“You’re welcome dear. I put some chocolates in for Harry and some sweets in for you. I know you have a sweet tooth.” We all chuckle and move on to the next present.   
“This one is from Andromeda and Teddy.” I tell everyone and open it. Inside are some baby clothes of Teddy’s I think, plus some new ones. A couple of hats. Some little baby booties. And a brand new changing bag.  
“This is lovely, thank you Andy. Thanks Teddy.” I smile at him and he gives me a cheeky smile back.  
“There’s more.” He says and Andy waves her wand. Next thing there is a pram to match the changing bag.   
“Wow! Aunt andromeda you didn’t have to get us this.” Draco says and stands up to inspect the pram.  
“I wanted to.”  
After all the present we have a collection of nappies and vests and items of clothing. We have a pregnancy pillow for Draco. Some gift vouchers. Some reusable nappies and a baby wrap from Luna. Also a small mountain of teddies, including a niffler and another dragon. A couple of parenting books. A snitch mobile for the cot. And a cute keepsake book.   
“Thank you guy, these are amazing.” I say to everyone and wrap my arm around Draco.   
“I have an extra gift I’d like to give.” Says Narcissa and steps forward.   
She had given us some clothes and nappies and the dragon teddy which is about a metre tall.  
“It’s a little something, but every Malfoy has one. I’ve still got yours Draco.”  
“Mum we’ve discussed this. The baby is going to be a Potter.”  
“Yes I know, but it’s got Malfoy blood.” She holds a box out to Draco and he unwraps it. I look at him but he just shrugs to say he doesn’t know either. Then he opens it and smiles at his mother.  
“Thank you.” He says to her and then smirks at me. He shows me what’s inside and I get why he smirked. It's a tiny silver bangle with a tiny snake running around it.   
“It’s lovely.” I smirk right back at him. “Thank you Narcissa.” I get up and kiss her cheek.  
“You’re welcome dear.”  
We go through Hermione and Ron’s presents then and they get a lot of the same stuff but in girly colours.  
“Thanks everyone and thank you for coming.” Hermione says.   
“What no fireworks tonight George?” Draco asks sarcastically, and people laugh.  
“Don’t want the two of you to go into labour early, do I?” He says right back and we all laugh including Draco and Hermione.  
“This baby is going nowhere yet. He’s in here for another 10 weeks.” Everyone is laughing and retreating inside. 10 weeks. That’s all that's left before we meet Leo. I hope we’re ready.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only 5 chapters left after this one 😬. Hope you have all enjoyed it so far! X

September 2nd  
“Ron’s last day in and he gets called out?” I ask Hermione.  
“Yeah, they really needed him apparently.” She says and carries on fluffing up pillows on the window seat. While I am trying to build a cabinet. Hermione scrunches up her face then and holds her stomach. She told me she’s been having false contractions all morning and they will go away soon. She told me they were called Braxton hicks contractions and she had them a few days ago too.  
The front room is almost complete. Just this cabinet to get up and then personal things like photos and our tv from Grimmauld to put in and we are done.   
All the rooms have been decorated and I even managed to build a greenhouse sort of building with a swimming pool in for Draco. It’s on the opposite side to the actual greenhouse and is a lot bigger. It took a lot of magic and has put me behind with the furnishing. But it was totally worth it. Draco loves it and is a lot more relaxed.  
“This room looks beautiful Harry.” She says and sits down on the cushions she’s just fluffed.   
“Yeah, it’s really turning into a home now and not a house.” I say and finally get the draw in. “Finally!” I get up and move it into place.   
“You just need all your little nick nacks now and the tv.” I agree and sit down next to her. “Where did you say Draco was?”  
“Him and Nia have gone last minute baby shopping. It’s not like we need any more stuff but Draco worries.” I roll my eyes and smile.  
“Oh the baby’s kicking! Do you wanna feel?” She grabs my hand anyway and puts it on her stomach. I thought she was having another false contraction but it was just the baby kicking.  
“I can’t get enough of this with Draco. It’s magical.” I say, mesmerised.  
“Try saying that when she has been kicking you all day. She’s like a bloody worm today.” Hermione laughs. The baby stops kicking then, but I keep my hand there anyway. Hermione leans her head on my shoulder then. “Not long now and neither of us will be sleeping through the night.” She laughs again. “Are you scared Harry?”  
“Terrified.” She agrees and we both laugh. “Come on, let's unpack some of the kitchen.” I tell her and help her up.  
I get her settled in a chair at the kitchen table, which was put up yesterday. Then I open the first box I see and it’s filled with plates and bowls. So I start unpacking.  
“How many children do you think you and Draco will have?” Hermione asks me. She has been asking me questions like this all day and it’s keeping me entertained.  
“Hmm, I don’t know how many Draco wants, but I want at least 4.”   
“Draco’s gonna love that.” She says and we chuckle.  
“How about you?”   
“Just 2 I think. But this little one wasn’t exactly planned so who can say.”  
A little later on I go outside to check my greenhouse. As I’m coming back inside I hear a smash. I run into the kitchen and Hermione is holding her back. Then I see the smashed cup on the ground and spilt tea.   
“Merlin and Morgana, I thought something had happened.” I breathe for a minute and then look at Hermione. She looks in pain and I freeze. “Are you okay?”  
“That isn’t spilt tea on the floor Harry, my water just broke. You need to get Ron now. I’m in actual labour!”  
I see her pants are wet too now and I unfreeze and run to the floo. There is no answer at his office and then I remember that Hermione said he had been called out. I call head auror Robards and tell him what’s happened. He tells me he will try to get hold of Ron but it may take a while. So I tell him to send Ron straight to st mungos. Hermione wants her baby born in the hospital, whereas Draco still hasn’t decided.  
I rush back to Hermione and she’s sat down in dry clothes.   
“So Robards is going to try and contact Ron but it could take a couple of hours.” I say to her slowly. She’s breathing in and out and holding her lower back. When she hears me though she stops with the breathing exercises and learns forward in pain.  
“Ahhhhh.” I panic and rush to her.  
“It’s okay. Keep breathing, in and out.” I do it with her and she calms down. “It’s okay, he’ll be here.” I tell her because I know that’s what she is worrying about.  
“What if he doesn’t make it?” She looks like she’s about to cry so I grab her face and speak slowly to her.  
“Then you have me.” She snorts then hisses in pain with another contraction. “I’m going to leave Draco a note and then we are getting you to st mungos.” She nods and I go to find parchment and quill.   
When I get back, Hermione is stood up walking around holding her back with both hands and breathing steadily.  
“Harry, we need to go to mine first and get my bag. It’s already packed.” He tells me and I lead her to the floo.  
“Are you okay to travel by floo like this?” I asked, worriedly.   
“Of course, now move.” She pushes me aside and goes through. She must really be in pain to shove me.  
When I come through Hermione is double over.  
“I’m sorry for shoving you Harry. This just really hurts.” She says as fast as she can through the pain.   
“It’s okay. Now where’s this bag?”  
“I told Ron to put it in the cot when he had done it.”  
I head up to the nursery and look in the cot. All I see is an empty bag though. Fucks sake Ron!  
“Hermione, is this the bag you asked the twat to pack.” I say coming back down the stairs.  
“Oh my god! I’m going to kill him. Ahhhh.”   
“It’s okay, I’ll apparate us upstairs and you can tell me what to pack okay?” She nods and I grab her around the waist.  
When we land in her bedroom I sit her on the bed.  
“What first?” I ask her and place the bag on the bed.  
“I need knickers, at least 4 pairs. Over there in the top drawer.” She points to her chest of drawers. I go over and grab a hand full, probably 5 or more. I shove them in the bag.   
“Next?”   
“3 night dresses. Second drawer down.”  
After 10 minutes of packing I’ve got everything that Hermione needs. She gets up and walks out the room.  
“Where are you going?” I ask her and go after her with the bag.  
“The baby needs stuff too.” She says and goes into the nursery.  
“I can do that.” I tell her.  
“No, I need to take my mind off things and this will help.” I nod and let her do her thing. She grabs a lot of pink things, some diapers, and a teddy bear.   
“Okay, now we can go.” I grab the bag off her and help her back downstairs. Then we take the floo to st mungos.   
Soon enough we are in a room by ourselves waiting for Hermione’s healer.  
“What’s her name again?” I ask, rubbing her back.  
“Healer Williams.” A lady says from the door. “And you are?”  
“Oh healer Williams, Thank god. This is Harry, my best friend.” Hermione says and takes a gasp. The healer comes up to Hermione and does a vitals check spell.  
“Where is your fiancé Miss Granger?”  
“Working.” Hermione says angrily.  
“Well okay. If you would just lie down and I can have a look what’s going on down there. If your friend here is going to faint, then I suggest he leaves.” She says and Hermione lies down. I frown and move around the bed to hold Hermione’s hand.  
“No he won’t, he’s fine here.” She says coolly to the healer. “Don’t you dare leave me!” She hisses at me then and holds my hand for dear life.  
“I’m not going to.” I tell her.  
“Okay Miss Granger, you’re almost fully dilated. Do you definitely want the spell?” The healer asks Hermione after she has finished down there.  
“Yes! Now!” I frown in confusion at her. “For pain. It isn’t as effective as the muggle stuff but it is less harmful to the baby.” Of course she is giving me a lecture right now.  
“Okay, if your friend would like to step away from you while I do the spell.” I release her hand and step back. As soon as it’s done I step back in.  
“That’s a bit better.” She releases a breath.   
“I will be back in 10 minutes. If you need me call the buzzer.” The healer says and then leaves.  
“What’s she doing?! She can’t just leave!” I’m about to go after her when Hermione pulls me back.  
“Leave her be. She’s probably got about 3 other patients. They need her as well and we are fine right now. And- ahhhhh!” She squeezes my hand really tightly then.  
“Ow shit Hermione!”   
“Sorry sorry sorry. That was really strong. Can you try calling Ron again?” She asks me.  
“I tried when we came in.” I tell her but she gives me the sad eyes and I cave. “Fine, give me a minute.”  
I leave the room to call him but as I’m about to hit the button, Draco rings me.  
“Hello.” I answer.  
“Merlin, Harry. Is she okay? Is Ron there yet?” Draco asks me, sounding panicked.  
“Babe, I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath. She’s fine. The healer has been in and she’s nearly ready to push. Ron isn’t here yet though. I was just about to ring him when you rung.” I can hear him calming down.  
“Okay, stay with her Harry. Tell her I love her and I hope it all goes well. Love you.”  
“I will, love you too. Bye.” I hang up and smile. Draco has never said that to Hermione, she’s going to be thrilled.  
I try ringing Ron then, but he doesn’t answer. So I leave him another message.   
I go back into Hermione and she is moaning loudly in pain.  
“No answer sorry, but Draco said he loves you and hopes it goes well. And he told me to stay with you.” I tell her sweetly. Her face changes instantly to happy.  
“Oh my god, he’s so sweet.- ahhhhhh” She screams louder then.  
“Shall I press the buzzer?” I ask her and grab it.  
“Yeah, I think I need to push.” I press it before she even answers but I’m glad she says yes.  
The healer casually walks in a second later while Hermione is nearly screaming in pain.   
“She needs to push.” I tell her.  
“I will decide that.” She lifts the blanket and examines her again. “Okay, time to start pushing.” She takes the blanket off and puts a clean white sheet down instead. Then she put Hermione’s legs in the stirrups and sits in her little stool, with her wand and other instruments next to her on a tray. “Next contraction, push as hard as you can.” She tells her now.  
“Where’s Ron?!” Hermione cries out then. She’s clearly in pain and exhausted.  
“It doesn’t matter now Hermione. I’m here and you need to push. You can do this,you are Hermione Jean Granger!” She nods with me and starts pushing.  
After nearly an hour of pushing we hear a cry. The baby has been born. Hermione is crying and laughing and kissing my hand.  
“Thank you Harry.” She says and then the baby is placed on her chest.  
“Congratulations it’s a girl.” The healer says and then goes back down there.  
“Has she got a name? No sorry, that’s for you and Ron…” I go to pull away a bit but she grabs me again.  
“Don’t be silly. Her name is Rose Harriet Weasley. Named after my grandmother and you. For being here for me today.” She’s tearing up and then I start to cry.  
“Hermione… I don’t know what to say.” I kiss her forehead and then the baby’s head.  
“Welcome to the world Rose.” Then the doors slam open and Ron runs in breathless. He takes one look at Hermione and the baby and freezes.  
“I missed it…” he says quietly. Hermione smiles sadly at him and holds her hand out. He walks over and she shows him baby Rose.   
I decide now is a good time to step out, so I leave quietly. Just as I’m at the door a hand on my shoulder turns me around. And then Ron is hugging me with a death grip.  
“Thank you so much Harry! Thank you!” He pats my back and releases me. I wave them goodbye with a smile and head to the closest floo.   
“I’m so glad she’s okay.” Draco says for the second time since I got home.   
“Yep and the baby. Baby Rose Harriet Weasley.” I smile proudly at the name and Draco punches me lightly.  
“Stop showing off.” We laugh and I hug him.  
“I love you Draco.” I need to tell him this right now for some reason.  
“I love you too Harry. And so does baby Leo.” I pull out of the hug and kiss Draco’s massive belly.  
“Speaking of Leo, you really need to make a birth plan. Like right now. In fact that's what we are going to do right now.” I pull him to the kitchen table and sit him down.   
“Harryyyy…” he moans at me.  
“No Draco. Today has shown me that anything can happen.” I grab the parchment and quill from before and sit across from him.  
“Where do you want to give birth?”  
“I don’t know.” Draco says, bored and not paying attention properly.  
“Draco please, this is important. Do you want to have Leo at st mungos or at our home or at the manor or at grimmauld? That’s your choices.”  
“Definitely not the manor! Or grimmauld!” He says straight away.  
“Okay good, one 2 options left.”  
“Notre coeur I guess.” He says quietly.  
“Great, home it is. Now who do you want there?”  
“You and only you!”  
“Now, pain relief?” He holds his hand up then.  
“Harry I have a birth plan already okay.”  
“Well, tell it to me then!” I roll my eyes at him and hold his hand. “Please.”  
“I want it here, just us, and I want to try the birthing pool. I want the pain relief spell because Hermione has already lectured me on the harmful muggle stuff. You are going to cut the cord. I will deliver the placenta and then get into our comfy bed with my baby. Okay?” He looks embarrassed and tilts his head down,so I lean over and kiss him.  
“That sounds perfect love.”  
“Do you think you can get the house done in 6 weeks?” He asks shyly.  
“Absolutely.” I smile at him and kiss his hands. He smiles back.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4 more chapter after this one! Enjoy! X

October 7th  
After Draco told me he wanted to give birth at home, I put in extra effort and brought in extra help to get this place finished. Most of Weasleys, excusing new dad Ron, came over. Luna, Neville, Teddy, Dean, Seamus, and even Pansy and Blaise came to help. After Draco had had a stern talk to them about not being round enough.   
All that was left was one bedroom, the stables, and the pond, which we had decided to put in alongside a willow tree, needed finishing. Then we just need to collect the rest of our stuff from the manor and grimmauld place, which was all boxed up, and we would have officially moved in. We haven’t started sleeping here yet because we want to have everything here first, but we spend most of our time here now.  
“What you thinking?” Draco asked, in a singsong voice, from where he was floating in the pool.  
“That I have called this place home since we bought it, but never managed to call grimmauld home. It was always that, ‘grimmauld’.” I tell him. He swims slowly up to me, where my legs are in the water.  
“You. Since you bought it.” He reminds me and smirks. I splash water at him and regret it straight away. With more strength than I would think he had at 38 weeks pregnant, he grabbed my legs and pulled me in.   
When I resurface I go straight for him but stop as soon as I see his face.  
“Draco…” I swim up to him and hold him up. He looks like he is either going to faint or be sick. He puts his arms around my neck and I grab under his legs and carry him out of the pool. I lay him on one of the beds and knee down next to him.   
“You okay? Do you need a healer?” He takes a breath and smiles.  
“No, I’m okay thanks. Harry Potter rescued me.” He winks at me and I know his dizzy spell has passed. I go to get up but his hand stops me. He sits up and places his hand on my check.  
“Grimmauld was never your home, Norte coeur is.” He says and kisses me.  
“Are you ever going to tell me what that means? I could just look it up you know? But I’d rather you tell me.” He smirks and then puts his hand on my chest and grabs my hand to place it on his chest.  
“It means ‘our heart’.” He smiles and blushes.  
I’m overwhelmed with love right now. He thought of this house as our home and heart even way back then. I kiss him with passion then and things are started to get heated, not that we can have sex in Draco’s condition, when we hear a subtle cough behind us and we pull apart. Standing there is an exhausted looking Ron and Hermione with baby rose is Ron’s arms. I jump up and rush over, then turn back and help Draco up. He’s massive now and can’t do much without help.  
“Guys! What are you doing here?” I ask, holding Draco’s arm while trying to hurry over. Draco is too slow to do anything in a rush nowadays though.  
“We thought we would stop by to see how Draco is and how the house is getting on.” Ron says and yawns straight after it.   
“Why don’t you see for yourselves.” I show them the door and signal them to go into the house.  
“Yes I’m splendid thank you.” Draco mumbles but carries on walking. I dry him off with a quick spell and give him a kiss on the cheek.  
After I’ve sat Draco down in the front room with a cup of tea, we go to leave. Then Ron stops and looks at Draco and then Rose.  
“Do you mind?” Ron goes over to Draco and offers him the baby. Draco looks shocked for about a second and holds his arms out without realising I think. As soon as the baby is in his arms though, he smiles and coos the baby.  
“Not at all.” He says, still smiling at Rose.  
“That was nice of you Ron.” I tell him as we are heading for the next room.  
“Yeah well, you’d hand her over to anyone too if she’d been up all night screaming.” He said half jokingly. Hermione whacked him for it anyway and we got on with the tour.  
We had gotten to the nursery and paused there, taking it all in.   
“Sometimes I still don’t think this is real.” I say in a half whispered voice. “Sometimes I think I’m going to wake up in that closet at 10 years and this was all a dream.” I start tearing up and so does Hermione by the looks of it. She squeezes my arm and gives me a sad smile. Then to my surprise, it’s Ron who speaks up.  
“Don’t worry mate, this is definitely real. I don’t think you’re clever enough to dream all this anyway.” He snorts and gets another whack off Hermione but I laugh.  
“Yeah… but who would have thought we would end up like this. I mean, I didn’t even know about magic until Hagrid barged down my door. Then there was Voldermort, and the war, and everyone we lost....” I can’t carry on for a minute. Hermione wraps her arms around me and stays there, then Ron puts his hand on my shoulder. “And then there was Draco, and there was finally light. And now you two have a baby and mine is due in a couple of weeks.” We are all chuckling now, some of us with tears rolling down our face. “I wouldn’t change a bloody thing though, because it’s what got us here.” They both nod and then Hermione looks in the corner.  
“Harry…. is that your mother rocking chair, from Godric's hollow?” Of course she would know, she was there on Christmas Eve. I nod and more tears come.  
“I wish they were here to see this though, all of them.” I look to Ron and remember Fred and then to Hermione and remember Remus and Tonks. I remember Dumbledore and Snape, Cedric and Sirius, Hedwig and Dobby, Ted Tonks and Alastor Moody, Lavender and Colin, and the rest of the fallen, and especially mum and Dad.  
The tears are coming heavy now, I haven’t allowed myself to feel this in a long time. But it’s what I need right now.  
“I won't be able to go to their graves this Halloween. Draco’s due just 10 days before.” I tell them sadly after most of the tears have stopped.  
“I’m sure they’d understand Harry.” Hermione tells me.  
“Yeah mate, you can go after and show them their grandson.” Ron says sadly. Hermione had told me that they had taken Rosie to Fred’s grave and Ron had cried his eyes out. I sling my arm around Ron’s waist and pull him closer.  
“Thanks guys.”  
When we eventually go back downstairs, Draco is sipping his tea with Rose fast asleep in his other arm. Hermione sighs and plonks herself down on the other sofa.   
“I’ve got to head to the shops for nappies and things, do you guys want anything?” Ron asks them, still standing.   
“Oww shops?! Can I come?!” Nia says, coming down the stairs. Me and Hermione shush her and she tiptoes the rest of the way into the room.   
“Yeah sure, why not?” Ron tells her and indicates with his hand to follow him. She waves to us and tiptoes out.   
“Draco, your home is looking lovely!” Hermione says quietly but enthusiastically.  
“Thank you Hermione, as is your daughter.” He smiles at the baby again and then at Hermione.   
“Thank you. She is bloody hard work though.” She says and collapses back against the sofa. Within the next minute she is fast asleep.  
“Wow.” I say and go to sit next to Draco. “Do you reckon this one is going to be just as hard as this one?” I ask Draco, first pointing at his belly and then at Rose. He chuckles.  
“Probably worse considering you are his daddy.” He smirks at me. I kiss him and then watch Rose for a bit.   
Just as Ron and Nia get home, Rose wakes up and starts crying. Hermione jumps up and shouts “what?!” And frantically searches for the crying baby. When her eyes land on Harry and Draco shushing the baby she sits back down and puts her head in her hands and sighs.   
Ron comes through the door with some shopping and Nia follows.  
“You okay love?” Ron asks Hermione. She nods and gets up to give him a kiss. Then she comes over and gently takes Rose from Draco.   
“Thanks for showing us the house Harry, it really is lovely. We best be getting off so I can feed this little monster.” She kissed Rose’s head and collected her things. “Call us as soon as anything happens.” She goes over to Harry and gives him a half hug, with the side she isn’t holding the baby, and then kisses his head like she did Rosies. Then she does the same to Draco and whispers ‘good luck’ to him. She smiles at her and we say our goodbyes.  
Nia wanders off into the garden then and says she’s going for a walk. So me and Draco go into the kitchen and prepare tea. With everything sorted in here, we went shopping and stocked the cupboards and pantry. We even put a non-perishable spell on the food in the pantry as we stocked it like a bomb shelter.   
After tea, me and Draco are sitting on the sofa watching tv. Then someone knocks on the front room door. It must be Nia so we look up and call to come in.   
“Hey guys.” It is Nia and she is filthy with mud and dirt. I look at Draco and his eyes are going wide. He is looking from the mud to the floor and back. Nia takes the hint and does a quick cleaning spell. Draco relaxes a bit and flips a page in his book, that I didn’t even know he was reading. “Sorry. I just wanted to ask if you could follow me to the back garden for a minute.” She smiles shyly and rubs her hands together. Me and Draco look at each other and then Draco rolls his eyes so Nia can’t see and holds his hands out. I get up and then pull him to his feet. He makes a pained face for a second and holds his back. Then straightens up and starts wadeling over to Nia.   
We go through the kitchen and open the patio doors. I hadn’t done much to the back garden yet and was waiting till I did the stables. But as we step out, my breath leaves me.   
It’s dark outside by now so the first thing I see are the fairy lights hanging everywhere. The back garden is huge, it has a patio of about 15 metres out though and then grass. The patio is completely clean now, the outdoor furniture has been put up. Which includes an outdoor table and chairs, just outside the doors. A double swing chair closer to the grass and the shed in the corner. And 4 sunbeds with an umbrella in the middle of then, which are lined against the grass to the left. I look over to the two nearest trees and see a hammock attached too. Then immediately to my right I see a built in floor level fireplace with built in seats. I look at Nia with amazement and she points over to the grass. We go over and exactly in the middle close to the patio is a little apple tree with bricks surrounding it. And engraved in them is ‘Norte coeur’.   
To the right is the hammock and to the left and back a bit is a huge oak. Nia walks over and leans on it.  
“I would like to make a treehouse with the little chéri in this tree. When he’s old enough of course.” She adds after a glare from Draco.  
“Nia this is absolutely amazing! Thank you so much.” I hug her tightly.   
“Oh and I also put the swing up on the tree in the front, just like you wanted.” She smiles and then looks startled as Draco hugs her too.   
“Thank you Nia, this is a big help.” He says and she smiles widely.   
“I hope you guys don’t mind but I’m going to do a few wildlife projects out here. Like a bug tower, and homes for hedgehogs and birds, and I’ll find flowers that attract bees and butterflies…” she goes on but I don’t mind what she does because she did this for us. From where we are standing at the treehouse tree, I look over to the apple tree, I wonder if that's the one..  
“That’s the tree from the barn.” Nia confirms my thinking and stands next to me facing the garden now. “I heard you and Draco talking about it. It hasn’t got any apple left right now but next spring it will have even more. I looked after that since day one of landing in that barn. It was dying so I helped it live. The apples are juicy and crunchy and just right.” I hug her to my side and then Draco to my other side, and look out over the beautiful garden which sparkles in the fairy lights.  
“I can’t thank you enou-“ I start saying to Nia when Draco digs his fingers in my side.  
“Harry-“ He whispers and collapses against me. I manage to catch him after he had fallen to his knees.  
“Shit! Draco!” I try to shake him but he doesn’t wake. “Nia, go inside and go to the fireplace. You have seen me use it before. Chuck some powder in and shout ‘healer bell, st mungos’. Tell her Draco has collapsed again and to come quickly.” Nia nods rapidly, taking in every detail, and runs for the house. Katie had said at the last scan, that if he collapses again at the point, to call her straight away.   
I get up and quickly put a feather light spell on Draco so I can carry him fast. I pick him up and go quickly to the door. By the time I get to the front room, Katie is already there with her wand in hand.   
“What happened?” She asks professionally but a bit frantic.   
“We were just in the back garden and all of a sudden he gripped me tight and then fainted.” I tell her and place Draco on the sofa. She starts casting diagnostic spells straight away. I go around to the side of the sofa and stroke his head, calming myself.  
“Has he used any strenuous magic today?” She sounds a bit less worried now and Harry calms even more.  
“No, in fact I don’t think he’s used any. He’s trying not to for chéri’s sake.” She nods and keeps checking him.   
A couple of minutes later, Draco comes around.   
“Hmm.” He tries to get up but I hold him down and shush him. “Harry? What’s… healer Bell?” He starts breathing hard and I shush him more.  
“It’s okay Dray. You fainted again.” He breathing slows down and he takes my hand.  
“So is everything okay?” He asks Katie. But she looks worried.  
“Draco, I’m quite worried about your ops. I think I’m going to have to suggest you go on bed rest now, until baby comes.” She gets up and puts her wand away. “Your blood pressure is very low and probably why you fainted. Just keep your feet up and stay in bed.” He looks sulkily at her and she laughs. “Hey, you have it easy compared to some people. This one woman I know had to be put on bed rest at 4 months. She had to stay in bed for 5 months, I’m sure you can do 2 weeks.” She smirks and winks at him. He nods and smirks back.   
We say thanks and our goodbyes and she goes back through the floo.   
“Thank you Nia. I’m going to take Draco to grimmauld now.” She nods and goes to leave. Then Draco frowns and looks at me.  
“Why don’t we just stay at home.” He says and lifts an eyebrow. “I’ve got to stay in bed until the baby is born and I do not want to be staying in that minging bed at grimmauld.” He crosses his arms. Now I think about it, I think why not. I shrug and nod.  
“Okay, I guess we are staying here now. I’ll go get the rest of the boxes tomorrow-“ then Nia shouts that she will help, “-and we are officially moved in.” I kiss Draco with love and passion and then stand up. “Let’s go to bed in our new home.” We say goodnight to Nia and I apparate him to the bedroom.  
Wow, officially moved into my new home with my pregnant fiancé. Life is good.   
The next day Teddy comes to the house to see us. I’m downstairs in the front room, having just arrived back through the floo with some more boxes from the manor. I’m getting all of Draco’s boxes first and then mine, then I’ll start unpacking.  
Just as I see Teddy, Nia comes through the floo carrying another box.  
“Teddy!” She says and puts the box down.  
“Nia!” He runs and hugs her while me and Andy stare on in amazement.   
“When did they go so close?” I ask Andy. “It’s like I’m not even here.” I snorted.  
“Now you know how I feel when you come around.” She elbows me lightly and winks. We both burst out laughing and when we look up Nia and Teddy are staring at us.  
“Uncle harry!” He runs over now and jumps into my arms.  
“Finally!” I squeeze him and ruffle his hair. “Hello cub. You okay?” I kiss his head and move him onto my hips.  
“Hello! Yep. Where is uncle Draco? Has he had cherry yet?” He says instead of chéri which he has obviously forgotten how to say.  
“No! You think I wouldn't tell you if the baby was born, silly.” I tickle him and put him down. “He’s on bed rest until the baby is born. Do you want to go see him?” He nods and I take his hand. “You coming Andy?” I turn and ask her.  
“Yes I’d like that.” She says politely.   
“Harry? Is it okay if I get the rest of Draco’s boxes? Then at least that’s done.” Nia offers kindly.  
“Please Nia, that would be a huge help.” She nods and goes back to the floo.  
Teddy knocks on the door quietly and whispers through the keyhole.  
“Uncle Draco?” I chuckle and knock a bit harder.  
“Dray? Your aunt and Teddy are here, can we come in?” He doesn’t answer and I frown. He was wide awake 20 minutes ago. I open the door and peak through, but Draco isn’t in the bed. Then I hear it.  
“Just wait here a sec.” I tell them and go in, closing the door behind me.  
“Draco? You okay?” I ask him, going into the bathroom. He’s rinsing his mouth out now. “I thought this whole morning sickness had passed?” I say and stroke his hair back from his forehead. He leans his head on my shoulder and moans, so I kiss his head.  
“I thought so too.” He says miserably.  
“Your aunt and Teddy really want to see you. Are you up for it?” He nods and I guide him back into bed.  
“Edward, you can come in now.” Draco says after getting comfy.  
The door swings open and Teddy rushes in. He is about to jump on the bed towards Draco but I catch him mid air. Draco still flinches though and puts his arms over his huge stomach.  
“Edward Lupin! Apologise right now for scaring your uncle Draco! That was very silly.” Andromeda’s tells him off coming into the room.  
“I’m sorry uncle Draco! I forgot!” Teddy is crying now and hugs into me where I’m holding him to my shoulder.  
“It’s okay Teddy, we all make mistakes. Thank you for apologising, would you like to sit on the bed with me nicely?” Draco asks and pats the spot next to him. Teddy looks up from my shoulder and nods. I wipe his tears and snot and place him gently on the bed. Then I pull one of the chairs, from the corner, over to the bed and offer Andy the seat.  
“Draco, do you want a cup of tea? Andy?” Draco nods and hugs Teddy.  
“Yes please dear, milk no sugar.” Andy says and sits on the chair.  
“Teddy, do you want a glass of juice, water, or milk?” I ask him and head for the door.  
“Milllkk please uncle Harry.” He says and goes back to talking with Draco.  
I stand at the door a bit longer just watching them chat and smile. Then I click the door shut and leave them to go make the drinks.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3 more chapter to post! Hope you like it! X

October 28th  
“A week Harry! Not a few days! A whole sodding week overdue!” Draco shouts from where he’s been stuck in bed for 3 weeks.  
“Okay okay, I’m sorry.” I hold my hands up in defence. Draco has been really cranky these past couple of weeks and I’ve been trying to stay out the way. But with the house now complete and the last of the boxes unpacked, there isn’t much to do. Apart from Nia’s lessons which are only a couple of hours each day.  
“What house do you reckon Nia will be sorted into?” I ask him while it’s on my mind.  
The doorbell rings then, just as Draco’s about to start shouting and possibly throwing pillows. He huffs and crosses his arms.  
I leave to go get it but Nia’s already there. She lets Ginny and Luna in.  
“Hello Harry, this is a beautiful home.” Luna says in her dreamy soft voice. “Lots of wildlife outside, including magical.” She looks at Nia and smiles.  
“Hey, thanks Luna. Hey Gin.” I hug them both and Nia goes back outside to practice one spell or another.  
“Ravenclaw?” Ginny looks back from Nia to Harry. I laugh and nod.  
“That’s what I was thinking.” I tell her and look to Luna for an input.  
“Oh no, she’s a hufflepuff from head to toe.” She chuckles and stares at the floor. I shake my head and chuckle.   
“So, what you guys here for?” I ask as politely as I could.  
“Luna wanted to check Draco’s wrackspurts. She says they will tell her when he is going to go into labour.” Ginny smiles and rolls her eyes.  
“No no, I don’t speak to them.” She shakes her head smiling.  
“Of course.” I laugh, which they both join in with.  
“No. But I do understand them.” She smiles and we stop laughing.  
I show them up to our bedroom and Draco tells me to come in.  
“Hey Draco, how you feeling?” Ginny asks and sits on the end of the bed. He glares at her before speaking.  
“I feel fat and tired and achy and bored! How are you Ginevra?! Oh and by the way, Nia is clearly A hufflepuff.” He says angrily. I send him a look telling him to cool down. Ginny just laughs though and doesn’t take any crap.  
“I’m good actually, thanks for asking. Nah she’s a ravenclaw.” He throws a pillow at her and she laughs harder.  
All of a sudden, Luna sits on Draco’s legs. She puts one hand on his belly and one hand on his head. He stares at her like she just escaped a looney bin.  
“Harry, if you don’t get this weirdo off me in 2 seconds, I swear to merlin..” before he can react though, Ginny has her girlfriend around the waist and is dragging her off.  
“Babe, you can’t sit on pregnant people.” She tells Luna.  
“Oh, my apologies Draco. May I just look at your ear though?” She darts around Ginny and gets a good look before Ginny hauls her away again. “Aww just 3 more days Draco and your baby is going to arrive.” She says happily and sits on Ginny's knee on the bed.  
“I hope it's sooner.” Draco mutters.   
I remember that I’ve got to go pick up a box that I forgot and the last of the mail from grimmauld place. I decide not to leave Luna here though.  
“Luna, do you mind coming to grimmauld with me?” I ask her nicely. She jumps up with wide eyes.  
“Of course!”  
“Yeah that’s right, leave your ex-girlfriend with your pregnant boyfriend-sorry fiancé. Good idea Harry.” I know she’s only joking and her and Draco get along well.  
“Thanks Gin. See you in a bit, love.” I say to Draco and give him a quick kiss.  
Soon enough me and Luna arrive at the doorstep of grimmauld. I closed the floo down the last time I came. I go to open the door but find I can’t bring myself to do it. This is probably the last time for years to come that I’ll get to enter this place. The place where Sirius hid out with Buckbeak. The place I was going to live with him before he died. The place where the order met to have secret meetings. The place where me, Ron, and Hermione decided we would sleep better on a couch and the floor all together rather than in separate bedrooms, when we were on the run. And where I stayed hidden after the war. This is the place where Teddy had his first sleepover. Where he learnt to crawl and listened to stories about his parents. This is where me and Draco had so many firsts. How could I leave this place?   
I open the door and run upstairs to Sirius bedroom. Luna chases after me but to no avail. I race into the room and slam the door, then I throw my strongest locking spell at it.   
“Harry?! What’s going on? I guess we aren’t playing tag?” She says and hums to herself.  
“I can’t do this Luna! I can’t leave this house and have a baby and get married! Sirius never did it! He stayed in this house!” I shout to her from where I’m sat against the door, panting hard.  
“No I guess he didn’t, but he had you. And staying in the house didn’t do him any good. He was miserable and when he finally went out, he…” she couldn’t finish that sentence. My eyes were watering already and I punch the drawers next to me.   
“He died! Because of me!” I finish for her. “What if I get Draco into trouble like that? Or god forbid my son!” I cry into my knees not being able to stop it now.  
“What if they get into trouble while you are hiding here?” Luna says. By the sound of it, she has sat down against the door too. “I think they would be much safer with you there.”   
“I can’t leave this house Luna, I’m not ready.” I say in a small voice.  
“Nobody is ready to leave their past behind Harry.” She says dreamily. “And this house is a huge part of your past. Too huge though. I look at this house Harry, and do you know what I see?” She asks but doesn’t wait for a response. “I see the war. I see Voldemort, and Dumbledore. I see unforgivable curses and dead friends.” She stops for a second and I think she may be crying. But so am I and I can’t talk right now.   
She sniffs then and carries on. “But I walk into your new home and I see light and the future. I see children laughing and parents loving. I see family and friends celebrating life.” She chuckles and sobs at the same time. “That’s what a home should be, Harry. Not this prison. Besides, it’s not like you have to sell the place. It will still be yours but just empty of people. The ghosts have taken this place now.” She’s quiet then and I think she may have left so I get up to go after her.  
I open the door and she falls in on her back. She is lying on her back looking up at me with tears in her eyes. “You ready?” She says and smiles.  
I help her up and give her a big hug.  
“Thank you Luna, I’m sorry for freaking out.” I let her go and she just shrugs and smiles.  
“That’s okay, you’ve done well to not freak out till now.” We laugh and head downstairs.   
As I’m passing rooms and paintings and holes in the walls, I’m saying goodbye. Luna’s right, this place is full of ghosts and that is my past. My future is waiting at ‘Notre coeur’, he’s waiting in ‘our heart’.   
I grab the box and the mail and head for the door. I turn the last of the lights out and say one last goodbye. To the house and to the ghosts who live there now. Then I close the door to my past and head to my future.   
The next day Neville and Hannah come to visit. This time I know it’s not for Draco. He’s come to check on the plants. When he turns up I’m in the middle of teaching Nia.  
“Hey Neville! Hey Hannah!” Nia says happily and skips over there. I throw my hands up and sigh. Then I remember I’m the teacher and throw a stinging hex at her leg.  
“Ow! Harry, what was that for?!” She cried and sits down on the grass clutching her thigh.  
“Serves you right for turning you back in lesson. Always be prepared Miss Thompson.”  
“Harry you sound like mad-eye.” Neville snorts and helps Nia up. “Hey Nia.”  
“Fine, half an hour break.” I declare and go to hug Hannah and Neville.  
“How’s everything?” I ask them.  
“Good! Hannah has officially applied for the patron job in Hogwarts! Poppy retired last year and we have been looking for someone to fill in. Hannah has just finished her healer training and has applied for the job.”  
“That’s great! I hope you get it! What about the pub though?” I ask Hannah.  
“I’ll still own it and we’ll still live above it, but I’ll get someone else in to manage it. How’s Draco?”   
“That’s a good idea.” I tell her about the pub. “Draco’s….cranky.” I decide with. Nia slaps my hand lightly.  
“Draco is 8 days overdue, he is bound to be a bit...moody.” By the sounds of it, she couldn’t decide what to say either.   
Hannah and Neville just nod and exchange glances. I show them the plants and then they take off. So I continue my lesson with Nia and she doesn’t turn her back again.  
Day 9 of Draco being overdue. Mrs Weasley and Hermione come round to bring some food and advice. Draco has basically slept for the last 24 hours and I’m a bit concerned, so I called Hermione.  
“You don’t need to worry Harry. His body is probably telling him he’s ready and so he needs the rest.” Hermione tells me after we all settle down with a cup of tea.   
“Yes and Merlin knows when the next time he’ll sleep that much.” Molly says. We chuckle and drink our tea.  
When we have done, I go to check on Draco. He’s awake when I go in and he smiles sleepily at me.  
“Hey dragon.” I kiss him and he blushes. “Did you have a nice sleep? Molly and Hermione are down stairs. Shall I bring them up?” I ask him, sitting down next to him and giving him a hug.  
“Mmhhmm.” He nods and yawns. “Yeah, they can come up.”   
I go to get them and lead them upstairs, showing Molly things on the way up. She hasn’t seen the house complete yet.   
I show them to Draco and move both chairs next to the bed. I sit on the other side of Draco on the bed and he leans into me.  
“How are you feeling dear? Ready to pop?” Molly asks with a chuckle. Draco joins in and nods.  
“Very much so Molly. Were any of your children this overdue?”   
“Yes, in fact, Ron was 3 weeks overdue. I felt like cutting him out myself.” She says and we all laugh.  
“Of course it was Ron, the lazy bugger.” I say and we laugh some more. “Do you want some lunch, Dray?” I ask him after we have stopped laughing. He nods then I look at Hermione. “What about you two?”  
“Yes please Harry.” Hermione says and then Molly stands up.  
“I’ll help you dear.” She says. As we are leaving I hear Draco ask where the baby is.  
“She’s at the burrow with Ron, Arthur, George, and little Freddie.” Then Draco says something that I don’t hear and they both laugh.   
Molly stays in the kitchen to clean up and I take our plates up. As I’m on the landing, I can hear Hermione and Draco talking in hushed worried voices. I sneak to where I can hear them and listen.  
“-shouldn’t be worried Draco. You're in good hands.” Hermione tells him.   
“But having Teddy and having our own is completely different. What if we are no good? It’s so much pressure.” Draco says clearly panicking a bit. I can’t say much though because I’ve had my little panic at grimmauld.  
“Listen to me Draco. Harry is good under pressure. He was brilliant when I was in labour. He did everything right and didn’t panic. Both of you are going to be brilliant dads. It may be hard at times but you’ll all be there for each other, I just know it.” I smile at that and then make myself known.  
“Who wants food?” I say coming into the room, pretending I didn’t hear anything.   
We all settle with our plates and eventually Molly joins us. We chat and laugh until tea time, then they head off home.   
Draco is lying with his head on my shoulder later that night and rubbing his belly.  
“I think it might be tomorrow. Luna might be right after all.” He snorts and yawns.   
“Well let’s get to sleep then. I love you so much Draco.” I lean over him and kiss him with all the love I have in me.  
“I love you to Harry. So much. Don’t ever leave me…” he says slowly, falling asleep.  
“Never.”   
I wake up to Draco nudging me. It’s still dark outside and I look at the clock. 4:47am.   
“Yes happy Halloween Draco.” I groan and roll over.  
“Harry…” he nudges me again.  
“...what?” I say grumpily. Then I remember where we are and that Draco is due any day. I jump up and turn the light on. He covers his eyes from the light and I look down. He has pulled the covers back and there is a wet patch in the bed.  
“I think my water broke…” he says, sounding tired. Then he gasps and leans forward while holding his back. “Contraction!” He groans out. I grab his hand and rub his back until it passes.  
“I’ll floo Katie and tell her it’s started. But she said she won’t come until they are 5 minutes apart lasting a minute each for over an hour. So I’ll come back up and get you comfy. Do you want me to tell anyone else?”  
“No! Definitely not!” He says. I go downstairs to the floo.   
After telling Katie, she explains again when she will come.   
“So remember every 5 minutes, lasting 1 minute each, for over an hour. Got it? Keep him hydrated and comfortable. Male labours tend to last a while. Oh and try to get food down him if you can but don’t worry.” I nod to all this and then head back upstairs to the cupboard for fresh sheets. As I’m shutting the door, Nia comes down the stairs rubbing her eyes.   
“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Then her eyes widen and she bounces down the rest of the stairs. “Is he in labour?!” I shush her.  
“Shhh, yes but it’s fine. Go back to bed. We may be here a while.” She nods and heads back upstairs. I go back into the room with the sheets. Draco is sat on the end of bed leaning backwards with his hands flat on the bed.   
“Anymore?” I ask him and he shakes his head.  
“Not yet.” I help him stand and quickly change the bed. Then I help him into a night shirt that we bought for this reason. As he’s sitting back down, with my help, he squeezes my arm and moans quietly.  
“It’s alright, just breath.” I tell him and stroke his hair. When it’s over he leans his head against my hip. “Okay?” I ask. He nods and I get him back into bed.   
At 8 o’clock there is a knock at the door. Draco has just had a contraction and is having a drink now while I dap his head with a washcloth.   
“Come in.” I shout. Nia pokes her head around the door.   
“Just wanted to say I’m going to work and good luck!” She smiles widely and I thank her. She leaves and I look at Draco. He’s been having contractions every 20 to 30 minutes. He looks tired already.  
“Do you wanna try have a nap while they are still far apart?” I ask him. He nods and I kiss his forehead. “Okay, I’m going to shut the floo and lock the door. Then I’m going to get some toast, shall I bring you something up?” He’s got his eyes closed by now but shakes his head.  
“No thanks love, not hungry.” I kiss him on the forehead and go to leave, when he grabs me and pulls me in for a proper kiss.   
15 minutes later I come upstairs thinking Draco is going to be asleep but instead he is throwing up in the bathroom. There is sick on the bed and the floor and a trail of blood.   
“Draco! Are you okay?!” I ask frantically running into the bathroom.   
“Yeah, Katie said I might be sick when I’m in labour.” He wipes his forehead and looks up. “Sorry about the mess. I’m not fast these days.”  
“No I meant about the blood?” I point to the trail of blood. He waves me off and throws up again.  
“That’s just because of the hole, that the baby is going to come through, it’s opening up and dialating. Katie told me all about it.” He says slowly. He looks pale and is sweating a lot.   
“Okay, I’ll clean this up and then come get you.” I change the bed again and spell the mess away, then head back to the bathroom. Draco has stopped being sick and is learning on the bathroom sink. Then he grabs it with white knuckles and starts breathing heavily. “Ahhhh.” He cries and leans forward. I go over and rub his back gently, while shushing him and kissing his neck.  
When it’s okay I get him back into bed.  
“I guess you didn’t get to sleep?” I ask him. He shakes his head and huffs, burying himself further into the pillows.   
At 12 o’clock his contractions are every 10 minutes apart and are getting really strong. He’s tired and sweating and cursing.  
“Ahhhhh! Harry!” He shouts while squeezing my fingers. “I can’t do this much longer! Get it out!” He cries to me. I kiss his head and push his hair out of his eyes.   
“You are doing amazing my love! Keep going.” Then my phone rings but I leave it until Draco’s comfy again. Then it’s gone off but I ring back.  
“Harry, is everything okay? Your floo is shut.” Hermione says down the phone. Me and Draco share a look and he nods.  
“Everything’s fine, Draco is in labour.” She screams then and I have to pull the phone away from my ear.  
“I’m on my way!” She says but I stop her.  
“No! Thanks Hermione but we just wanna be on our own for now.” I tell her.  
“Oh right, of course. Keep me updated.” She sounds disappointed but like she understands.  
“Thanks Hermione. Don’t tell anyone though, apart from Ron.” She agrees and leaves us to it.   
At 4 o’clock I’m in bed with Draco. He’s between my legs and says he feels comfortable, so I've stayed like this for the last 2 hours. His contractions are getting closer now and I’ve started timing them on a stopwatch. He grabs my hand again and moans.   
“Ahhhh!” The contraction lasts a minute.   
“Okay that’s 5 minutes apart babe. Another hour and Katie will be here. Okay?” I hug him from behind and kiss his head. He nods and leans against me.   
The next hour passes slowly and painfully. But then it’s time. “Right, I’m going to floo her!” I tell him and slowly get from behind him.   
Next time I come up the stairs is with Katie in tow. Draco is having another contraction and I rush to him to hold his hand.  
“Hello Draco, how are things going?” Katie asks once the contraction has stopped.  
“Slowly.” He says, sounding very tired.   
“Okay, let's have a look shall we? If you can lie down on your back and spread your legs please.” He does as told without so much as a blush. He must really be tired and in pain.  
Katie lifts the sheet and has a look then. I hold draco's hand and sit next to him.  
“I’m going to have a feel inside okay?” She asks and Draco nods and squeezes my hand slightly when Katie starts. He makes a face of discomfort and then it’s done. “Well you are about 9 cm dilated, but the baby isn’t down far enough yet. I think we have another few hours yet. Do you wanna try walking around? It may get the baby down where he’s supposed to be.” Draco sighs at the time he has left and then nods. I help him get up and he holds on to me while we walk around the room.   
At just gone 8 o’clock, Katie checks him again. He has had his pain reduction spell but the contractions are just getting worse. Katie has set up the birthing pool while I’ve been walking around and sitting with Draco. She kept checking him and still nothing. But he just said he feels he needs to push so she checked him again.  
“It’s time!” She declares, coming up from under the sheet. “You’re ready to push!”


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapter left to post! Enjoy! X

“You’re ready to push!” Katie says and my heart stops. This is it, a coupe more hours at most and I’ll be a dad. “How exciting!” She says. Draco glares at her and she loses the excitement. “Right sorry. Do you want to get in the pool now or when you're closer?” She asks him professionally.   
“Not yet.” He says breathing harder as another contraction takes over. After it's finished he looks at me. “Will you get behind me again please.” He pants out.  
“Of course, love.” I help him lean forward and climb behind him. He instantly leans back and sighs. I kiss his head and stroke his hair back. ‘Nearly there.” I whisper.   
“Okay Draco, next contraction I want you to start pushing okay?” Katie tells him after a couple of minutes. He nods and I can tell when it’s starting because he leans back ever so slightly and squeezes my hand tighter. “Push.” She says and he starts pushing.   
“Ahhhhh.” He yells while pushing and gripping my hand. I try to be as supportive as I can and shush him while stroking his hair with my free hand.  
At 10 o’clock exactly he has just finished another contraction. He collapses back against me and turns his head into my neck.   
“I can’t do this anymore.” He cries quietly to me. I can feel the tears and sweat run down my neck. “Harry do something.” He sobs.  
“Shhhh it’s okay, not long now really. Do you want to get in the pool now?” I ask him but he shakes his head after a minute and hugs my arm. “I can get in with you too.” I say quietly because I know that’s the reason he wants to stay here. But he wanted the pool in his birth plan.   
He looks up at me with tears running from his eyes and nods his head.   
“Please.” He mouths to me. I wipe his tears and help him up. As we are going over another contraction starts. “Ahhh. Harryyy.”   
“It’s okay, I got you.” I go in front of him and he holds my shoulders. Then he bends forward and bawls.  
After it’s finished I get him over to the pool. I take his nightshirt off and help him in, then I take my top and pants off and get behind him.   
“Okay babe?” I ask him when he leans back against me. I put my arms under his armpits and take his hand over his chest. He squeezes them and nods.  
“Yeah.” He says.  
After 10 minutes or so, Katie has another look.  
“I can see a head. You’re nearly there draco! 10 more minutes and baby chéri will be here” she says excitedly and stays where she is now, ready to catch the baby.  
“You hear that babe! 10 minutes and we will be parents!” I say happily and smile at him. He gives me a tired but honest smile back and we share a quick kiss before another contraction starts.   
A few minutes later Draco is screaming in pain and pushing his hardest.  
“Okay heads out Draco. On your next contraction give me one more big push, okay?” He nods to her and then he squeezes my hand tightly as another one comes on. He pushes and then all of a sudden it all stops. He sags against me and tries to catch his breath. I look over and Katie is holding a tiny baby in her arms. Then he starts to cry.  
“Congratulations!” She says and puts the baby on Draco’s chest. He’s crying again now but tears of joy. And just seeing them two makes me start welling up.  
“Have you got any names for the little guy?” Katie asks while she examines Draco again for the afterbirth.   
“Leo. Leo James Potter.” Draco says quietly, still looking at our son. Then he looks up at me, smiles and starts crying again. I hug him close while crying a bit myself.  
“Well done Dray. I’m so proud of you.” I tell him and he cries into my shoulder.  
“We have a son, Harry.” He sobs and turns slightly. He pulls back and places the baby in my arms. He starts crying again gently and all I can do is stare.  
“We have a son.” I repeat Draco’s words. I kiss Leo’s head and my tears drop into his hair. Which I then get a look at and start laughing. “He has your hair.” I turn my watery smile to draco and leans against my other arm. We stay there for a while just enjoying the moment.  
It’s past midnight now and Draco is clean and dry and fast asleep in bed. I’m next to him with Leo sleeping in my arms. Katie checked Draco over again before she left and said she would be back in the morning.   
Draco is curled up against my side and I stare from him to Leo. I love these two boys with all my heart and wouldn’t change my life for anything. It’s so perfect I could cry, which I have been doing for the past 2 hours. I gave Leo his bottle about 5 minutes ago and so I place him in the Moses basket next to me and lie down next to Draco. He shifts and squints his eyes open.  
“Hmm. Harry?” He sounds exhausted and I shush him.  
“It’s okay babe, go back to sleep. I love you so much and you did so well today.” I kiss him on the nose and he smiles.  
“Love you to.” He tells me and goes back to sleep.   
Early the next morning Katie floos in. Me and Draco are both awake watching a sleeping Leo in his basket. Draco has just fed him again and put him back down. Katie quietly knocks on the door and smiles at what she sees when she walks in.   
“Good morning.” She giggles soundlessly.  
“Morning Katie.” I say at the same time Draco whispers, “morning healer Bell.”  
“How was last night?” She asks us and take a seat in one of the corner chairs.  
“It was okay...we got up every couple of hours with him and then he’d go straight back to sleep like now.” Draco tells her, then smiles down at Leo again like he can’t help it.  
“Good. I’m gonna have to wake him now though to check him over, alright?”   
“Of course.” I say and she gets up and comes over. She smiles at him too and then picks him up. He starts crying and then quiets down after a minute. Katie places him on the bed and takes his clothes off to check him and casts a few diagnostic spells,   
After a few minutes she looks up.   
“You have a very healthy baby, well done Draco.” She starts to redress him but Draco takes over.  
“Thank you.” He smiles at her.  
“Okay your turn Draco.” She tells him when he’s finished buttoning up Leo’s onesie. He hands the baby over to me and starts to undress.  
“Dray, can I floo call Hermione and Ron?” I plead and he just laughs and nods.  
“Yeah, but don’t be ages. I want my baby back at some point.” We all chuckle at that and I make my way downstairs with Leo.   
“This is your house Leo. Me and your papa rebuilt it and made it our home. You’ll grow up here, with more brothers and sisters hopefully. But let's not mention that to papa just yet, eh?” I whisper to him.  
Hermione answers straight away and her face lights up at seeing Leo. Then she starts to cry and calls for Ron. He comes running in out of breath.  
“What?! What’s happened?!” He says, panicked at her crying.  
“Look!” She points to me and Leo and I smile and wave. His eyes go wide too now and he comes to kneel by the fireplace.  
“Merlin.” He says still with shock on his face.  
“I take it you didn’t tell him yesterday?” I look at Hermione. She grins through her tears and shakes her head.  
“Nope, I wanted it to be a surprise. What time did he arrive?” Hermione says looking at Leo.  
“Draco went into labour at 10 to 5 in the morning and then he was born at 10:24 last night.” I tell them and hold Leo up higher.  
“Wow, I bet Draco’s exhausted.” Ron says.  
“Yeah he is, but he’s so happy. He’s just with Katie at the moment, I’ve got to take this little guy back in a minute.” I smile down at Leo and kiss his cheek.  
“Wait, what’s his name?” Hermione asks before I can leave. I smirk at them and can’t decide whether to tell them yet or not. But I give in eventually.  
“I’ll tell you but you can’t tell anyone else. I’m telling everyone on Sunday at Mollys. We just want this week to ourselves.” They both nod so I carry on. “His name is Leo James Potter.” Hermione starts crying again and Ron hugs her close.  
“That’s great mate.” Ron tells me.  
“It’s beautiful.” Hermione sobs on Ron’s shoulder. Then I say goodbye and head back upstairs.  
Nia ambushes me once more and squeals quietly.  
“OMG! Wow, it’s a baby!” She says joyfully. She stares at him until I give her the go ahead.  
“You can touch him Nia, just be careful.” She strokes his head and kisses his cheek.  
“Hello baby, I’m Nia. You daddies are very nice people, so be good.” I chuckle and tell her his name. “Leo, we are going to be best buds. I’ll babysit you all the time.”  
After a few minutes chatting with Nia I go back to the bedroom.  
“Hermione cried. And Nia is very excited.” I say coming back into the room. Draco’s just pulling his joggers back up and Katie is packing away.  
“I thought she might.” He laughs.  
“Well everyone looks good and healthy. I’ll come again next week, but if you have any problems at all then please call me.” I hug her goodbye.  
“Thank you so much Katie.” She smiles. Then Draco hugs her too.  
“You are amazing. Thank you.” She hugs him back and then goes on her way.  
On Friday I mention to Draco that I didn’t get to go to my parents grave on Halloween.  
“Well I was giving birth to your son.” Draco smirks at me but it fades quickly. “I’m sorry love.” He kisses my cheek.  
“I know, but would it be okay if I nipped over there today? Will you be okay on your own?” I ask him and he stops folding the laundry we are doing.  
“Well why don’t we go with you? Then you can show your parents the excuse, rather than just telling them they have a grandson.” He smiles warmly at me and I grab his face and kiss him passionately.  
“You are just…. the best!” We laugh and go to get ready for our first outing with Leo.  
Draco is carrying Leo in his wrap rather than get the pram across the cemetery. He holds my hand and we go over to my parents grave. Draco kneels first and I follow his lead. There are fresh flowers on the grave and a card. I pick it up and read it with Draco reading over my shoulder. It reads:   
Dear Lily and James Potter  
My name is Hermione Granger. I am best friends with your son. I was with him when he first found your graves on Christmas Eve 1997.   
I know he comes to visit every Halloween but he can’t today unfortunately. You see, his fiancé Draco is giving birth to their son, your grandson. So I decided to come for him this year. I’m sure he’ll be along soon, just wait for him.  
He loves and misses you very much.  
Sending all my love.  
Hermione.  
I read it a couple of times and then place it back down. Draco wipes the tears from my face and kisses my cheek. We just sit there for a minute in silence. I don’t know what to say and I feel a bit down.  
“Nice to finally meet you Mr and Mrs potter. I’m Draco.” I look at him but he’s looking at the grave in all seriousness. “It was very unfortunate that your grandson was born on the same day you died but things happen for a reason I guess. Would you like to meet him? His name is Leo James Potter, and you’d be the first to meet him.” Draco says and gets Leo out his wrap. He passes him to me and places a thick blanket next to the flowers. I lay Leo down on it and he opens his eyes wide.  
“I believe he has your eyes Mrs Potter.” Draco says then while looking into Leos green eyes, the same as mine and my mums. That does it for me then. I place my head in my hands and weep. Draco places his arm around me and pulls me into him. He strokes my hair and kisses my head.   
I eventually straighten up but don’t stop the tears from falling. I bend over and kiss Leo, then place my hand on the gravestone.  
“I miss you guys everyday, and I wish you were here to meet Leo.” I hiccup from crying and put my head down with my hand still on the stone. “I hope you're proud.” I whisper. Draco places his hand on my back and then whispers to me.  
“I know they are Harry. You’re the best.” He says imitating my words to him this morning. I laugh wetly and turn to hug him. Then I pick Leo up and hug him too. We get up and I don’t feel like letting Leo go yet so I keep hold of him for now, which doesn’t seem to surprise Draco.   
“Bye mum, bye dad.” I say and turn to go.  
“It’s been lovely, see you soon.” Draco says then and follows me out.  
Sunday comes and word got out that the baby had arrived. Everyone left us alone like we asked but sent cards and gift baskets to say congratulations. Today we are going to Andy’s first and Narcissa is meeting us there. Then we are going to the burrow. We are even going to see Hagrid, but not till next week.  
We are getting ready to go now and things aren’t going smoothly.   
“Have you packed everything in the nappy bag?” Draco asks irritably while trying to shush a crying Leo.  
“Yes! I’ve told you that 3 times now. Where the hell are my shoes!” I shout up to him.  
“Where you keep leaving them! In the middle of the kitchen!” He shouts down.  
I go into the kitchen again and they aren’t there. I huff and walk back to the stairs. Draco is just coming down with Leo.   
“Why are there no wipes in this bag? I thought you said everything was packed?” He says in a snotty tone.  
“Sorry, I thought everything was in there. My shoes aren't in there are they? They’ve disappeared.” I say sarcastically and head for the stairs.  
“No they aren’t, and neither is my patience.” He mumbles. I head back upstairs and find my shoes shoved under the bed.  
“Why do you have to hide my things if I don’t put them away?!” I call the Draco, running back downstairs.  
“Because you aren’t a child, just put your things away!” He huffs and finishes putting Leo in his pram. “Did you get the wipes?” I sigh and head back upstairs for the wipes.   
This place is such a mess, I don’t even know where the wipes are. I look in the nursery and they aren’t there so I go into our room. They are in the Moses basket, no wonder I didn’t pick them up. I also pick up his tiny dragon teddy I got him just before he was born. He loves the thing already.   
“Draco, it's a bloody mess up there! I can barely find anything-“ I stop there when I see Draco. He’s sitting at the kitchen table sobbing his heart out. I rush over and kneel down.  
“What’s wrong?!” I ask him and look at Leo, but he’s fine. Draco looks up and more tears fall. Then he puts his arms around me and pulls me into a hug. I go willingly and thankful.  
“I’m so sorry Harry. I’m being an awful partner and an awful father.” He sobs into my shoulder.   
“Hey!” I pull back and hold his face in my hands. “Don’t say that. You are doing a fantastic job.”  
“But we are always arguing.” He says with tears falling down his face.  
“We always argued before.” I shrug. “Plus we have only argued like twice in nearly a week. I’d call that a record.” I wink at him and he chuckles weakly. I wipe his face and kiss him.  
“I don’t want to turn out like my father.” He says sadly. I know he loved his father but he was too strict with him.  
“I know love. But everything that you have done so far proves that you are a better man than your father. I bet he didn’t get up at 3am with you. Or change the worst smelling nappies. Or even cuddle you just because he couldn’t bare to put you down yet. Well, you have done all that.” He smiles and I kiss him again. “Now, let's go and show our baby off.” I smirk and he chuckles.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter! Enjoy! X

We finally leave the house with Leo in his pram, and Apparate to Andys. We walk up to the front door with me pushing the pram and Draco hanging onto my arm. He knocks on the door and Lottie answers.  
“Hellos sirs. Mistress Tonks is with Mrs Malfoy and master Edward in the sitting room. Come, come.” She shows us through with a wave. I leave the pram at the front door and carry Leo through.   
“Would anyone like to meet the baby?” I ask at the door. All eyes turn to us and go wide, then smiles appear. Draco rolls his eyes at my theatrics but he smiles too.  
“Draco darling! Harry, how are you both?” Narcissa gets up first and we meet in the middle.   
“Good thank you mother, tired but good.” She kisses Draco and me on the cheeks and then looks at Leo. “Would you like to hold your grandson, mother?” Draco asks her. She looks at him and then me, practically pleading with her eyes. I smile and offer her the baby. She sits down with him and Draco sits next to her. I sit on the other sofa with Andy. As we are saying hello, Teddy pops his head around from the back of the armchair.  
“What’s his name?” He says timidly. I hold my arms out and he runs into them.  
“Leo. Leo James Potter.” I say loud enough for everyone to hear.  
“James was your daddy’s name.” Teddy says and sits on my knee. I smile and nod at him.  
“It was. Do you think he’d like it?” I ask him.  
“Absolutely.” Teddy says happily. “Does that mean me and grandma won the guessing game? Because we did guess James.”I laugh and ruffle his hair.  
“I suppose it does, well done.” I tell him.   
“What do we win?” Teddy says with wide eyes.  
“How about… a tickle?” I say and attack him with tickles. He laughs and shrieks and eventually I let go of him so he can breath.   
“Oh Harry! He’s got your eyes.” Narcissa says suddenly, he must have opened his eyes looking for the cause of the noise. I chuckle at her.  
“Yep, hopefully they don’t change colour. And he has Draco’s hair.” I tell her. Draco takes Leo’s little yellow hat off to show them. He is wearing his winnie the pooh vest and dungarees that Hermione bought for him. With the little yellow hat to match.  
“Yes maybe the colour, but it is starting to be just as messy as yours.” Draco says then. We all laugh and Teddy changes his hair colour from blue to black. I wink at him and scruff it up.   
“Oh Andromeda, you must hold him!” Narcissa says and comes over to place the baby in her sister's arms.   
“Gosh, remember when Teddy was this small?” Andy asks, looking at me and then Draco.   
“I was that small!” Teddy says amazed. We all laugh and he gets off my knee to look at the baby. “Can I hold him after grandma?” He asks me.  
“Of course, but you have to sit down and be good.” I tell him.  
“I’m always good!” He huffs and turns his back to me. I chuckle and grab hold of him. Then I start tickling him again and he breaks out in hysterics.   
“You did well boys, he’s gorgeous.” Andy says then. “How long was the labour Draco? Not long I hope.”  
“Oh no, just 17 hours.” He says sarcastically, then comes over and kisses Leo. “Worth every minute though.” He smiles at me and I pull him down to sit on my knee instead of Teddy who is enthralled by the baby. He puts his arms around me and kisses me softly.  
“Wow that long? My Dora was out within 5 hours. She never did wait around.” We all chuckle at that and Draco leans into me and sighs happily.  
“Right Teddy, go sit nicely on the arm chair.”Andy says and gets up with Leo. Teddy does as told and practically vibrates with excitement.   
“Let me go get the camera.” Draco whispers and heads for the pram.  
When he comes back Teddy is holding Leo and smiling down at him.  
“I think he likes me.” He says to us and then looks down again. “I’m going to be like your big brother. We are going to be best friends.” He says to Leo and kisses his head. That’s when the flash goes off and Draco got the picture. “I wasn’t ready, take another one.” The picture prints out and Draco hands it to me while taking another one. I look at the picture and it’s a loop of Teddy talking to Leo and then bending to kiss his head. I smile at it and memorise where I’m going to put it in a frame.  
“So Draco, when are you thinking of going back to work?” Narcissa asks then.  
“Merlin mother, Leo isn’t even a week old yet.” She shrugs her shoulders lightly and continues to look at him for the answer. “Well, Cassie has taken over as manager for now. So I’m not really needed. I’d rather be at home anyway.” Narcissa watches him smile over at Leo and Teddy and leaves it at that.  
After Andy and Narcissa have had another good hold of Leo and we’ve had a chat, we get going. I put Leo back in his pram and give everyone a hug.   
“Thank you for coming around.” Andy says as we are waving goodbye.  
“We’ll see you soon.” I blow kisses and we Apparate to the burrow.  
Me and Draco both take a deep breath before heading to the door. It’s family meal day and everyone is going to be there, so it’s going to be loud as hell. Leo hasn’t experienced loud yet, so this should be good. I squeeze Draco’s hand and he smirks at me.  
Suddenly there is a pop of apparition behind us and I spin around going for my wand. But it’s just a worried looking Andy and a crying Teddy.  
“What’s up cub?” I ask him and get down low.  
“I don’t want you to leave me.” He sobs and hugs me round the neck.  
“Sorry Harry. He wanted to come with you. Is it okay?” Andy says hesitantly. “I know you have your hand full with the new baby but-“ I hold my hand up stopping her.  
“There’s always room for Teddy, right Draco?” I say and look to him for support.  
“Definitely. Would you like to sleep over at our new house tonight Teddy? We decorated a room all for you.” He says kindly. Teddy lights up a bit, sniffs and runs to hug Draco’s legs.   
“Thank you uncle Draco!” Andy smiles and turns to Harry.   
“I’ll drop a bag off later. Bye Teddy! Have a nice time.”   
“Bye grandma!” He hugs her now too and then she’s gone.   
“Right we better get in there and say hi”   
We walk in through the back door and it’s fairly quiet. Me and Draco look at each other and frown. Then Molly comes into the kitchen with a plate of biscuits, humming quietly. She sees us and jumps, causing her to drop the plate. It smashes on the floor and the noise wakes Leo. He starts crying from being startled. Draco’s holding him this time and starts rocking him.   
“Oohhh Harry! Draco, hello dears. I’m so sorry! Draco, well done sweetie! Congratulations. Let’s have a look at him then.” She says and comes over, stroking Teddy on the cheek.  
People start pouring into the kitchen having heard the plate smash.  
“Well we were trying to be quiet for the new baby, well done mum. Made him cry already.” George says coming in with Freddie on his shoulders again.   
“Oh be quiet George!” She says and glares at him.  
“Do you wanna hold him Molly?” I ask her. She nods and then steps back.  
“Everyone back in there. There’s more room and then everyone can see him.” She announces and everyone goes back from where they came. We follow and see that the whole family is here.   
“Thanks for trying to be quiet Molly. We really appreciate it.” I tell her and she kisses my cheek. We all get sat down and Draco passes Leo to Molly.  
Ginny comes into the room now with the whiteboard from the baby shower.   
“So, Audrey got Rose right for baby Weasley,” everyone cheers faintly, as to not set off either of the babies. “What about baby Potter-Malfoy?” She says and everyone looks at us. I’m just about to speak when Draco talks.  
“Well you were close with all the constellation names Ginny, but you were going to deep in. His name is Leo James Potter.” There are laughs and then awwws from everyone.  
“Well I just thought with names like Draco and Andromeda, it would be a bit harder to pronounce.” She says back to Draco.  
“What, like Scorpius?” Draco pulls a face at the name. Everyone laughs, including Ginny.   
“So that means Teddy and his grandmother got closest with James!” Ginny says looking at the board and Teddy jumps up and high fives her.  
“Hey Hermione, can I hold Rosie.” I ask after a few minutes of quiet chatting. She nods and passes her over.   
“Of course she can go to her godfathers.” She says with a smile and looks at Draco.  
“Wow really? Both of us?” He asks.  
“Yep.” He hugs her and then leans over my shoulder to look at Rose.  
“We haven’t even discussed it yet sorry. I’m sure you're in the draw though.” I wink at her and she taps the back of my head. Of course her and Ron are going to be godparents, but I do need to check with Draco.  
After a couple of hours, and Leo being passed around like a game of pass the parcel, we decide to head home. We say our goodbyes and I pick up Teddy while. Draco pushes the pram.   
“How about the flower park Teddy?” I ask him.  
“Can we go? Can we? Can we?” He jumps up and down.  
“We will need to drop uncle Draco and baby Leo off first and get you a coat.” I tell him but nod.  
“Excuse me? Why can’t we go?” Draco asks, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow.  
“Oh I just thought you would be tired, love.” I wrap my arm around him and give him a kiss on the cheek.  
“Well I’m not. We will go home and get both the boys' coats. Then go to the flower park.” He says with his chin held high.  
“Yay, uncle Drcao and baby Leo are coming too.” Teddy says happily.  
We apparate back home and I go get Teddy’s coat that he left here a couple of weeks ago, and Draco takes Leo to get his coat and booties.  
“Do you wanna see your room Teddy?” I ask him as I’m starting up the stairs.  
“Yes please uncle Harry!” Draco comes out of the nursery with Leo then and holds his hand out for Teddy. He runs the rest of the way up and grips Draco’s hand.   
“So you remember the nursery is closest to our room?” I ask Teddy and he nods. “Well we have put you furthest away from the nursery, so that the baby’s crying doesn’t wake you up.”  
“That’s very clever uncle Harry.” Teddy says and then runs to the furthest door. “This one?” He asks with his hand on the doorknob. I nod and Draco hands me Leo so he can cover Teddy’s eyes. I kiss him on the head and then smile from him to Teddy.   
Draco takes Teddy in and then moves his hands from his eyes.   
“Oh fuck!” Teddy screams. Me and draco stare in shock.  
“Teddy! You're not supposed to say that word! It’s very naughty.” I tell him off.  
“I’m sorry uncle Harry, sorry uncle Draco, sorry Leo.” He says and sulks at his shoes.  
“Don’t say that again. Especially in this house.” Draco says and then picks him up. “Now, how do you like your room?”  
“I love it! It’s brilliant! Thanks so much.” He cheers up instantly and looks around some more.  
10 minutes later we apparate to the park.  
“What do you want to do first Teddy?” Draco asks. He’s holding Teddy’s hand and I’m pushing Leo in the pram. Teddys hair is the same blonde as Draco’s and Leo’s at the moment, while we are around muggles. At first he couldn’t decide between blonde or black but he went with blonde because he loves his new cousin so much. His words.  
“Can me and Leo go on the swings?” Teddy asks while pulling Draco towards the swing set.   
“Leo is too young Teddy, but I can push you while he watches.” Draco says and Teddy nods. I get Leo out his pram and hold him in my arms so Teddy thinks he’s watching, but he’s fast asleep anyway.   
A woman comes up behind me then with a baby a few months older than Leo on her hip.  
“You have a beautiful family.” She says and I smile and thank her.  
“Adoption or surrogacy?” She asks and I panic at the question. Then I just blurt out surrogacy.  
“Yes, they do have a certain resemblance to your partner.” She chuckles, obviously speaking about the hair. “What’s his name?” She smiles at Leo.  
“Leo, and yours?” I smile back.  
“Amelia.”  
After a bit more chit chat she walks off and leaves me to think. Then Draco comes over looking worried.  
“You okay Harry?” He asks and gives me a quick kiss.  
“I’m sorry. I said something stupid, but I panicked.” He looks at me and holds Teddys hand.  
“What?”  
“Well this muggle woman asked if the kids were adopted or surrogate. And I said surrogate. I couldn’t tell her you had them, but I didn’t want to say they weren’t ours at all with adoption.” He shuts me up with another kiss and then chuckles.   
“It’s okay, I just told that woman over there the same thing.” I sigh with relief and then we both laugh.  
“Ducks next Teddy?” I ask him and put Leo back in his pram.   
“Yeah!” We walk the long way around to the pond. Through the trees and past the flowers.  
“Do you think we could put ducks on our pond?” I ask Draco out of curiosity.  
“If you made it bigger, then probably. And some koi fish would be nice.” He smiles and puts his free hand on top of mine on the pram handle.   
When we can see the ducks Teddy runs ahead. He starts feeding them and they follow him around. Me and Draco sit down on the bench and he leans his head on my shoulder.  
“You were right, I am tired.” Draco whispers to me and then yawns. I chuckle softly and kiss his head.  
“We will get going soon.” He nods slowly and I think he’s falling asleep.  
People walking past are looking at our little family and smiling. I keep an eye on Teddy and rock Leo’s pram to keep him quiet.   
Later that night we tuck Teddy in bed after giving him a bath with bubble horses. Then Draco goes to feed Leo and I read Teddy a story.   
“-The end. Did you like that one?” I ask him and he nods sleepily. “You know which one is our room if you need us, right?” Again he nods and closes his eyes slowly. “Goodnight cub.” I kiss his head and turn the lights out.  
I go into our bedroom and close the door softly. Draco is just putting Leo down to sleep. I go over and kiss his head too.  
“Goodnight Leo.” Then we both get changed and get in bed. Draco curls up against my side with his head on my shoulder.   
“Night Harry. Love you.” He says and kisses me slowly.  
“Goodnight dragon, I love you too.”  
After Leo’s first feed, I am just putting him back in his Moses basket when Teddy opens the door and pops his head in.  
“Uncle Harry?” He sniffs like he’s been crying. “I’m scared, can I sleep with you?” He often did this at grimmauld but I don’t mind.  
“Come on then. But shush, uncle Dracos asleep.” I lie back down and Draco rolls back over to cuddle me. Then Teddy cuddles up to me on the other side and I fall back to sleep quickly.   
The next time Leo woke for a bottle, Teddy covered his ears and went back to sleep. But the time after he threw his hand up and sighed. He got out of bed before I could and headed for the door.   
“Forget this! I’m going back to my quiet bed.” He says and then leaves the room. Me and Draco burst out laughing and I pick Leo up to stop him crying.   
After he has finished his bottle and burped and been changed, I put him back down. Then I go to check on Teddy. He’s fast asleep in his own bed. I go back to bed and climb in next to Draco. Once again he rolls over to get comfy on me.  
“Is Teddy okay?” He asks tiredly.  
“Yeah he’s fast asleep in his room.” I tell him and kiss his head.  
“Good. Night.” He says and exhales.  
“Night love.”   
That night I dream of how good life has gotten, and how good it will get.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter guys! I have loved writing this story and hope you all liked it too. Enjoy! X

One year later.  
I’m busy setting up the tables for the party later, when I can hear gigging. The whole family is getting together tonight for Leo’s 1st birthday. And also to congratulate Nia on passing all her exams.  
I put the banner down and go in search of the giggling. I follow the sound to the back garden and I take a quiet second to watch. Draco is holding Leo’s hands while he attempts to walk. And every time he falls on his bum, Draco lifts him up to the sky and shouts ‘whoshhh’. It makes Leo giggle every time.   
I move forward and shout over.  
“What on earth are you doing to our son?” I say jokingly.  
“Daaa.” Leo says and holds his hands out for me. Draco passes him over and gives me a kiss.  
“I thought you were setting the tables up?” He asks with a smirk.  
“Not with all this noise.” I say to Leo and blow raspberries on his belly. He screams with laughter and throws his head back. Draco laughs at us and we head back around the front.   
Draco finishes the table decorations while I’m playing with Leo. He points to the duck pond and I walk him over.  
“Daaa ahhh.” He babbles to me after seeing one of the ducks.  
“Yep that's right, ducks.” Draco laughs at me coming over.  
“He did not say that.” Then he sits down next to us on the bench I installed.  
“He totally did.” I wink at him. He laughs some more and slaps my arm playfully. “There’s a lot to celebrate tonight.” He says then and sighs happily.  
“Yeah, our son is one now! And Nia’s finally passed her exams and is currently being sorted into a house. I still say she’s ravenclaw. She read everything I gave her and went searching for more. I still can’t believe how good she turned out to be with potions.” I tell him.  
“Nah she’s a hufflepuff and tonight will prove it. Also we have to celebrate angelina’s pregnancy!” Draco tells me.  
“Merlin of course, I forgot about that. How far gone is she now?” I lift Leo up and try to pat down his unruly hair which is just like mine bar the colour. I’m glad it stayed the same colour as Draco’s, and I’m glad his eyes stayed the same as mine. He’s a bloody gorgeous kid. I hope Draco wants more children soon.  
“She’s 3 months/12 weeks.”   
“Aww, remember when you were only 12 weeks pregnant?” I look at Leo and snort, then here a sniff coming from Draco. I look over and he has tears down his face. “Hey, what’s the matter?”  
“He’s so big now. He won't stop growing.” He sobs and reaches for Leo. He hugs him tight and surrounds him with kisses.   
“It’s okay love. It’s beautiful watching him grow up.” I say and rub his back but he just cries more.   
He gets up suddenly and gives Leo to me. “Get on with the decorations.” He says and rushes inside.   
“What’s got his knickers in a twist?” I ask Leo but he just giggles and babbles some more.  
It hits 6 o’clock and everyone starts arriving. Soon enough I see Hermione, Ron, and Rose. I head over with Leo in my arms. Hermione passes Rose to Ron and holds her arms out for Leo, who gladly goes into them. Then Ron passes me Rose, this is how it always goes.   
“Hello Harry. How are you? How’s little Leo here?” Hermione asks and kisses his cheek.  
“Good, things are really good. How are you lot?” I ask her.  
“Great thanks.” She smiles.  
“How’s the apple orchard coming along?” Ron asks then.   
“Good, but we won't have any apples for a couple of springs yet.” I tell him and we start walking over to everyone else.  
“That’s a shame. Those apples from the tree in the back, that were in that apple pie, were bloody delicious.” He licks his lips just thinking about it. I laugh at him and shove him forward.  
Draco comes over and takes Leo from Hermione, then just walks off.  
“Draco!” I shout at him. “Sorry ‘mione, he’s been acting strange today. I’ll go have a word.” I hand Rose back and go towards Draco, against the shouts of Hermione that ‘it’s quite alright’.  
“What the hell was that?!” I turn him around.  
“My mother wanted to see her grandson.” He says in a snobby way.  
“Well Hermione was saying hello to her godson.” I tell him right back.  
“She’d had enough time.” He sneers at me and turns back around.  
“What the hell is wrong with you today?!” I whisper in his ear and walk away.  
As I’m walking back towards Hermione and Ron, they both point behind me and I see Draco running off around the house. I throw my hands up and sigh. I turn back around and go after him.  
“Draco?” I say, catching up to him.  
“What!” He hisses at me and avoids me trying to hold him.  
“What’s wrong, love?” I ask him softly.  
“Nothing! Can you stop asking me that! I’m allowed to be upset that my son is getting older.”   
“Of course you are.” I grab his cheeks and put my forehead against his. “But it’s not just that.”  
“Can you just bare with me tonight?” He asks gently then, having calmed down. I nod my head. “Let’s just get through tonight please, I’m really sorry.” He genuinely sounds it and so I forget it all and we go back to the party.  
Later on when we are all sat down, the drinks start coming out. Leo is sitting in the middle of me and draco in a high chair, with a party hat on. He is giggling at Teddy across the table, turning his face into animals. Nia is on one side of him and Andy is on the other side. Nia is killing herself laughing at Teddy. Narcissa is on the other side of Andy. While Ron and Hermione are next to me. Everyone else is scattered about.  
“Can we all say a cheers for Nia - she is finally an honorary witch, having finally passed all her exams.” Everyone claps and cheers and Nia takes a bow. “I believe you have been knighted by the sorting hat?” I ask her, a bit slurry after a few drinks.  
“I’m a…. hufflepuff!” She shouts and once again everyone cheers.  
“Nooo!” Me and Ginny shout and everyone laughs at us.  
“Told you.” Both Draco and Luna say to me and Ginny. Although Luna says it a lot nicer than Draco.  
“I’d like to say cheers to Harry.” Nia stands up then and holds up her drink. “For deciding that his fate is to teach people like me, from home. And for finally quitting the aurors indefinitely. No offence Ron.” She whispers that end bit and everyone raises their glasses and claps for me.  
“I’d also like to say cheers to Leo - for turning one!” Andy stands up and says. We all cheer and Leo claps too which sets us all off laughing again. “And Angelina on her pregnancy announcement.” We carry on clapping. It quietens down a bit and then Draco stands up.  
“I’d like to congratulate Nia on her new job. As the new potions master at my shop.” Everyone starts clapping but I frown.  
“I thought you were going back to work?” I ask him, but he smiles at me and ignores the question.   
“Can I also get a cheers for me and Harry?” He asks.  
“For what?” Percy shouts over.  
“Yeah, for what?” I ask Draco, even more confused now.  
“Because we're having another baby.” He says with a smile towards me. The whole garden erupts in cheers and laughter and happiness. Yet, I’m sat still in shock. Then Draco hands me a scan photo and I jump up. I grab him around the waist and lift him up while swinging him around. He holds on to me and buries his face in my shoulder while laughing.   
“You cheeky slytherin!” I say and put him down. Just as he’s about to talk though, I kiss him hard. “I fucking love you!” I say and laugh.   
“I love you too!” He has to shout over the cheering and apparent fireworks.  
I bend down and kiss his belly. I’m so happy and Draco Malfoy made me that way.

15 years later  
Christmas time.   
“We’re home!” I shout, coming in with Lily’s Hogwarts trunk. Leo trails behind me, then drops his trunk and runs past to hug Draco who’s rushed in from the kitchen. Behind him are lily and the twin, Sirius and scorpius. The name grew on draco thanks to Ginny.  
“Papa!” They all shout.  
“Leo! Lily! Sirius! Scorpius!” He kisses each one on the head as they hug him. “Scorpius, Sirius, how’s slytherin?” He asks them. This was their first year in Hogwarts and both got sorted into slytherin. Lilys in Ravenclaw and Leo is a gryffindor.   
“It’s so good!” The twins say together.  
Our three youngest come in from the kitchen then, to see their brothers and sister. There is Phoenix who is 10. We think he’s a gryffindor too. He has Draco’s hair and his grey eyes. Then there is Orion, who is 7 and obsessed with exploring. He’s definity a ravenclaw. Me and Draco have agreed on that since he was 2. He has my hair and Draco’s eyes. And then there is 3 year old Ophelia. Our little hufflepuff. She has my mother's ginger hair and Draco’s eyes. The twins look the spitting image of Leo with their blonde hair and green eyes. And Lily has my black hair but straight like Draco’s with my green eyes.  
“Daddy!” Ophelia shouts and toddles over to me. We all go in the sitting room and chat about Hogwarts. I send their trunks to their rooms. Scorpius, Sirius, and Leo are in the attack. We converted it into a two bedroom after Nia left to move in with her girlfriend. Ophelia is in the nursery and the other 3 have their own rooms. Teddy crashes on the sofa when he stays over, which isn’t often these days. Who can blame him though, he is 21 now. I’m not surprised he and victoire ended up together. They always played nice growing up. Now they are planning a wedding.   
I look at the wall of photos behind the sofa, which started with the photo of Teddy kissing baby Leo’s head. There are so many more photos now. All the kids are up there and the rest of the family. There is Teddy pushing Lily on the swing outside. There’s one of Orion trying to reach an apple off one of the trees in the orchard while Leo holds him up. There is a picture of Ophelia feeding one of the horses a carrot. And one of Phoenix riding his horse. He always goes so fast. There’s a picture of the twins in the tree house, out back, shouting down something and laughing. Then there is the picture that started this wall, of Teddy holding baby Leo for the first time. I love this wall and this family.  
Christmas morning comes and goes and everyone has opened their presents. Ophelia is on my knee with her new pet pygmy puff. She decided to call it Elsa after her favourite Disney princess.  
I look at all the kids and then at Draco and they are all smiling and I’m filled with joy. Draco looks at me and smiles. Then he gets up after Ophelia has gone chasing after Elsa and he sits on my knee. This isn’t a strange sight for the kids. Draco has always liked to be close. And I love him for it. He grabs my face and kisses me slowly. When he pulls back he claps to get the kids attention.  
“I have one last present for everyone, but daddy has to open it.” He smirks at me and hands me an envelope.  
“What’s this?” I ask him suspiciously.  
“Open it and find out Daddy.” He kisses me again and I lean around him to open it with both hands. I take one look and burst out laughing.  
“No!” I laugh and kiss him. He giggles and nods. “You know what this means?” I ask him. He looks at me and tilts his head. “You officially beat Molly.” We both laugh and then the envelope is grabbed out of my hand. I look up to see Orion looking at it funny and tilting his head just like Draco just did.  
“What is it papa?” He asks curiously.   
“It’s a picture…. of your new baby brother or sister!” He says and most the kids jump up. Some in protest but most in celebration.   
“Merry Christmas Harry.” Draco says and kisses me again while laughing at the kids' reactions.  
“Merry Christmas, dragon.”  
I look at my kids and then the photos, and the sofas, and the room. I think of each room and the fun we’ve had in it. I think of the pond outside and the swing and the treehouse. I think of the stables with horses in and the orchard with apple trees. Then I think back on how this all started and I’m so grateful to Hermione. She really did see greatness in this house. And instead of breaking us, this house made us a family. 

THE END.

Here’s a link to a drawing i did of them if anyone is interested. Its of the whole family. https://thefangirlhemp.blogspot.com/2020/09/drarry-fanfic-drawing.html


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